Four Winds
by SharonH
Summary: Four girls move to Ipswich when their Grandmother dies. They carry a legacy that has been passed down for generations. Added an extra year at the school CalebOC, PogueOC, ReidOC, TylerOC
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: This is after the movie. Four OC's. First time I've written on Covenant._** **_It's probably totally Mary-Sue. Sorry._**

**1. When Two Paths Converge**

Quin Donovan stared at the casket in front of her with dry eyes. Rain fell lightly to the ground, and it was like she could hear every drop as it hit the canopy above her head. The priest was reading from his bible and she could hear the weeping coming from everywhere around her and her three cousins. Yet they, like she, held their tears inside. They would have time to mourn when they were alone. Quin looked to her left and met Lilith's vivid green eyes. Lilith nodded slightly.

It was hard for Lilith to accept that Grandmother Selena was gone. She'd been the one stable entity in her granddaughters lives. Lilith's mother stood behind her sobbing and fury welled up inside of the raven-haired girl. Astrid O'Reilly had barely spent any time with her mother when the woman had been alive. Now though she played the devoted daughter. All that Lilith could do was think 'What a crock of shit'.

Meredith Harris focused on the tiger lily she held in her trembling hands. No traditional roses for Selena Bishop-DuVeaux. She could feel the rage radiating off of Lilith from her right, and the deep ache of sorrow throbbing off of Sheridan from the left. Ever so slowly she reached out and took Sheri's hand in hers. You're not alone she thought, at least we have each other. Merry looked to her right and saw the source of Lilith's anger. Aunt Astrid was certainly playing her part well, Merry thought with a twist of her mouth. Meredith could only be grateful her parents hadn't graced them all with their presence.

The priest was finishing his prayers and he motioned ever so slightly. Sheridan gave her cousin Merry's hand a slight squeeze to show her gratitude for the other girl's support and then she stood. The petite brunette moved forward and dropped her tiger lily on top of the coffin that would soon be lowered into the ground. Almost as soon as she left the shelter of the canopy the rain stopped. Sheridan touched the edge of the coffin for a moment, Oh Grandmother, she thought, I hope you're with Mama now. One by one her three cousins dropped their flowers on top of the coffin and stepped off to the side so that the others could pay their respects. Four very different sets of eyes met and held for a moment and then they were walking to their limousine.  
&&&

Caleb knocked lightly on the door frame drawing attention from the two girls who were whispering on one of the single beds. "Hey." he announced with a soft smile.

The brunette girl stood. "Pogue outside?" she asked.

"Yeah he is."

She nodded once and headed out to meet him. Caleb winced. His best friend had already told him that just the day before the brunette, Kate had informed him she was leaving Spencer. Her parents had gotten her into a finishing school in Paris. Pogue was putting up a good front, but Caleb could tell his friend was in pain. Now Caleb looked at Sarah, the girl he loved, and dread pooled in his stomach. "What's going on?" he asked when she wouldn't look him in the eye. He moved forward to kiss her and she turned at the last moment making his lips meet her cheek.

"Caleb..."

"What's up Sarah? What's going on? You know you can tell me anything."

"This is such bad timing." she murmured with a wry chuckle. "What with Kate and all..."

"Sarah?"

"Caleb...It's not you, it's me...I can't handle everything that happened. I tried, God did I try. I know I told you I could, but I can't. I'm leaving."  
&&&&

The limousine was silent. "The Father gave a beautiful service." Meredith finally murmured.

Quin smiled faintly, "Yes, yes he did. Even though she didn't follow his faith, he did a fine job."

"Are you okay Lil?" Sheridan asked, her voice showing her concern.

Lilith shrugged. "She had no right to be there."

"No, she didn't. But we knew she would come." Quin spoke softly and rationally.

"I know, but she had no right. She didn't care about Grandmother. She only cares about herself and money."

"Once the will is read and she finds out how much she's getting she'll leave." Meredith stated.

"Don't let her get to you Lil. She's just jealous."

Sheridan agreed. "You know she and Aunt Lily are jealous that we four got the gift."

Lilith's mouth twisted wryly, "Yeah, never before had it skipped a generation..."  
&&&&

Caleb ran the words through his mind again and again. He'd loved her so much, and she'd left him. How could she have left him? He hadn't cheated on her, had never hurt her; he'd never rushed or asked for more than she was willing to give. It wasn't like their relationship was explosive the way Pogue and Kate's had been. They'd been to hell and back together and they'd stayed together, but now she'd left him. Hell, she hadn't even waited for summer to be over, she'd packed her bags and headed off to some finishing school in California. Now he sat at the bar in Nicki's with Pogue on one side silent as the dead, and Reid and Tyler at the pool tables laughing at something.

"This sucks." he muttered.

Pogue heard his best friend and snorted. "That's a fucking understatement. I mean, I thought Kate and I would be together forever. I really thought you and Sarah would."

"I'm starting to think that relationships are a joke."

"Amen brother." Pogue took a swallow of his soda. "Prep year before college, we've all ascended and made it...We're almost done with Spencer man, almost done."

"Kate still leaving?"

"Yeah, she talked her parents into sending her to school in Paris." Pogue clenched his teeth in anger. "Wants to be free to date anyone she meets."

"Sorry man, I didn't mean to bring it up again."

"You didn't. Right now it's never far from my mind. Ever since Chase it just..."

Reid looked over at his two morose friends at the bar. He smacked Tyler on the arm, "See, that's why I don't stick with just one girl man...Look at how torn up those guys are."

"I can't believe both Sarah and Kate left them like that." Tyler was shaking his head in confusion. "I mean, sure Kate and Pogue fought all the time, but Sarah and Caleb?"

Reid shrugged, "Girls are fickle dude." The two boys set down their cues and headed over to their friends. He threw his arm over Caleb's and Pogue's shoulders and smiled."Party at the beach boys, let's head out."  
&&&

People- friends, loved ones, and strangers alike, milled around the old stone manor. The four girls, dressed in similar black dresses stood stoically near the old fire place and shook hands as condolences were offered. Everyone knew they'd lived with their Grandmother. Everyone knew their Grandmother had raised them from the time they were infants, all born within three months of each other, with the help of her housekeeper Millicent. Occassionally a murmur could be heard discussing the tragic death of Quin's parents, Vaughn and Dahlia Donovan; as well as the deaths of sweet Sheridan's parents, Jack and Luna Tetreaux. Of course seeing Astrid O'Reilly prancing around acting as lady of the manor also caused whispers of the lady herself and how odd it was that her husband William O'Reilly died at such a young age, and of course they mustn't forget that Meredith's mama and daddy, Ed and Lily Harris hadn't even bothered to come back for the funeral.

The four girls heard every whisper but paid them no heed. Their Grandmother had raised to girls to know their own worth and to ignore the musings of others, especially when the musings were about things those people knew nothing about.

An elderly gentleman approached the girls with a soft smile. "Ladies," he began in a soft southern tone, "If you'd come with me we'll go ahead and get the will taken care of."

Quin looked slightly startled. "Oh, Mr. Seidhouer, we weren't in a rush."

He chuckled. "I know darling girl, but Selena was very explicit on how she wanted this done."

"Well, that certainly sounds like Grandmother." Lilith said with a smile.

The four girls made their way into their Grandmother's spacious office and weren't surprised to see Astrid already settled into a chair. Millicent scowled at the woman as the elderly housekeeper stood near the doors. "Miss Millicent, please take a seat." Sheridan spoke softly and it brought a smile to the woman's face.

Mr. Seidhouer, the attorney, took a seat behind the desk and pulled a packet of papers out of his briefcase. He took a moment to look at each girl. Quin was a tall girl with lovely gray eyes. Her blonde hair was so light it was almost silver, and it was cut chin length and choppy to accentuate her magnifent bone structure. Lilith was only two inches shorter than Quin with vivid green eyes that reminded him of old green glass bottles. She kept her hair long and it was the soft black of a raven's wing. A fringe of bangs brushed her forehead. Meredith was as tall as her cousin Quin, and was currently looking on the old housekeeper through navy blue eyes. The girl's deep auburn hair reminded him of a younger Selena with its deep sheen and wild curls. Sheridan was the smallest standing just a few inches over five foot. She was the only girl who'd inherited Selena's brown eyes; those brown eyes graced with pure gold flecks. The girl's chocolate brown hair hung in a straight fall to her shoulders. All four girls had athletic and womanly bodies. All four girls so different, but each one showed a touch of their grandmother; Quin's full mouth, Lilith's straight nose and slightly pointed chin, Meredith's hair and smattering of freckles, and Sheridan's lovely eyes. For a moment Henry Seidhouer couldn't speak. "This will is quite simple actually." He said clearing his throat. God how he'd loved Selena.

"Well get on with it." Astrid snapped impatiently and straightened her short skirt for the dozenth time.

He spared her one glance and then dismissed her. "To my trusted housekeeper and companion I bequeath twenty thousand dollars for every year she worked for me. I also leave her as caretaker To my estate and include that she will always have a home at Bishop Manor. To my two living daughters, Astrid and Lily, I bequeath twentyfive thousand dollars each. To my four..."

"What?!" came the angry shriek as Astrid came up out of her chair.

Mr. Seidhouer continued on as if the woman hadn't spoken, "To my four Granddaughters I leave the rest of my estate, to be split evenly when they come of age. I know that they will care for Millicent and my home the way I've taught them to. In the mean time Henry Seidhouer will act as Executor of the estate until such time as the girls can take over. As I will no longer be there to care for my granddaughters, and they are such special girls, I have arranged for them to spend their last year of before entering college at the same school I attended in my youth; Spencer Academy in Ipswich Massachussetts." Mr. Seidhouer paused to look at the girls. "It goes on to say that you'll each get an allowance monthly to cover any expenses you might have."

"My mother left everything to them!" the venom was audible in Lilith's mother's voice. "I'm her daughter, and she left everything to those four...teenagers! I won't let her go, I won't let Lilith go. I'm her mother."

Lilith's eyes widened and actual fear swam in her belly. All three of her cousin's reached out and touched her and she relaxed. Mr. Seidhouer spoke. "Unfortunately you don't have that right. You signed over custody of Lilith to your mother when Lilith was two months old. In exchange you were given access to your trust fund. You no longer have parental rights over the girl. Add to that fact that Lilith turns eighteen before school begins...you have no say in the matter."

Astrid stood and it was easy to see her body tremble in rage. She looked at the four girls and then stalked from the room. Millicent smiled at the girls, looked to Mr. Seidhouer and then left the room closing the door behind her.

"There is one more thing." he said quietly and pulled a velvet box from the top drawer. "Your Grandmother told me to give these to you when we were alone. She said you would understand what they meant, and you would understand who they would belong to." He opened the box to reveal four pendants. They were elaborately scrawled letters; N, S, E, W.

"Yes, Mr. Seidhouer, yes, we know what to do with them." Quin said softly.  
&&&

Reid looked at the class schedule card he held in his hand and sighed. Sure, he could quit school. He'd basically graduated from high school. This last year was just the in between time anyway, but he wanted to go to a great college, and while Spencer looked good for graduating, it would look better after this year. Reid tossed the card down on his desk and looked around. Last year of this dorm room he thought. Last year of rooming with Tyler, his best friend.

At the thought the door burst open and said friend entered with his bags. "I can't believe school starts in three days."

"Yeah," Reid agreed, "But just think now when we skip class we won't be considered truant."

Tyler looked at the blonde boy who'd been his best friend since practically from the time they were born. "That's pathetic." Reid grinned at him and Tyler just ignored him as he began to unpack. "Big bonfire down on the beach tonight. We meeting the others?"

"Yeah, Pogue said he and Caleb would meet us out front."

"Well then, we should go."

The two boys headed out to find the other two of their group already leaning on Reid's Hummer. "Gentlemen," Reid began with a grin. "You boys ready to go check out this year's feminine entertainment selection?"

Pogue just shook his head while Caleb grinned wryly, "That's why it never surprises me that you don't have a steady girl Reid."

A quick answer sprang to Reid's mind, but he held his tongue knowing that the retort would hurt his friends. Funny, since he'd ascended some things seemed to matter more than they had before. "Can I help it I like to spread the love?" he grinned.

"Let's get moving Dr. Love." Pogue laughed this time.Meanwhile...

"You are going to have such a good time!" the girl told them for the tenth time that evening. It had just gotten dark, and the moon was high in the night sky. It was quite beautiful actually.

They'd met the redhead when they'd moved into their dorm rooms earlier that day. She seemed friendly enough, although they had their doubts, and had invited them to the party saying how everyone from Spencer would be there, along with quite a few from neighboring public schools as well. Even though the girls didn't quite trust this girl, Kira, they figured it couldn't do any harm to go.

"It's held every year, well several of them are actually, and it's like a cross between a rave and a beach party. I can't wait to introduce you to Aaron, Lucas, and Eric. All of those guys."

The girl led them down a path from where she'd parked her car and they could see that the party was already in full swing. "Thanks again for inviting us Kira." Sheridan said softly.

"No problem." the other girl said with obvious false brightness.

"We should have driven ourselves." Lilith murmured in Meredith's ear.

"Probably." the other girl agreed. Kira was already hurrying off towards a group of boys who looked like big time jocks. "I knew she looked like a cheerleader or jock toy."

"Now now, let's not insult our new classmates girls. Let's paste on the pretty smiles." Quin teased and started to smile. Sheridan choked back a laugh as she realized her cousin was basically just showing teeth.

Kira was approaching with three of the jocks. The leader of their little group was tall with shoulder length curling golden-brown hair. "Oh good grief, a pretty boy." Sheridan sighed.

"Hi." he said as he joined their small group. "I'm Aaron. Kira here tells me you all are new to Spencer?"

"We sure are." Lilith answered. "I'm Lilith; these are my cousins, Quin, Meredith, and Sheridan."

Aaron was in the middle of speaking when the girls felt the first tug of power. Their startled eyes met. Meredith looked around but couldn't find the source.

Tyler frowned as he realized something was off about the gathering. It felt...different. The others hadn't made it into the circle of the fire yet, but Tyler began scanning the faces of everyone around. That's when he noticed the four new girls talking to Aaron. He hurried back to his friends in order to urge them forward. "There's something weird going on." he muttered.

Reid began to laugh until he saw his friend's eyes. Caleb frowned, "What do you mean Ty?"

"Just something...feels different." he didn't know how to explain. They entered the circle of light cast by the fire and the other's felt the pull.

"We'll have to look at the book later." Pogue murmured as his eyes scanned the crowd.

"Lookee there boys, Aaron's got himself some new friends." Reid said and began to smile. The other boys' eyes followed his gaze and found the four girls who were speaking to the jock. Each girl was beautiful. "They look bored, let's go entertain them." The blonde boy murmured.

Quin was pretty sure she was going to either plead a headache or cast a silence spell on the blonde jock who was talking about himself non stop. A group of people was approaching on her left and she turned towards them. The first thought that entered her head was 'HELLO'. So this is where the good ones were hiding. How had she and her cousins gotten stuck talking to the dunderhead in front of them while these beautiful boys were around? Some would consider them pretty, but Quin didn't. No, these boys were something else… "Who are they?" she asked before they'd reached the group. "These guys approaching, who are they?"

"Those are the Sons of Ipswich. They're totally hot, and as of recently all totally available...but," Kira said with a small sigh. "They think they're above everyone else."

"And they're not." Aaron said. The anger was apparent in the jock's voice. "They're just all a bunch of punks."

Sheridan's eyebrows rose. Who was this guy to talk about punks?

"Aaron." the dark haired, dark eyed boy leading the small group greeted the jock.

"Caleb."

"Who are your new friends Abbot?" the light-haired blonde boy of the group asked. Mischief was plain to see in his bright blue eyes.

"None of your..." Aaron was cut off as Quin stepped closer to the Sons.

"I'm Quin Donovan. These are my cousins, Lilith O'Reilly, Meredith Harris, and Sheridan Tetreaux."

"Caleb Danvers. These are my friends, Pogue Parry, Reid Garwin, and Tyler Simms."

"Nice to meet you all." Sheridan said giving the boys a soft smile.

"You all just get into town?" Tyler asked.

"Sure did." Quin answered. "Late last night actually."

"Going to Spencer?"

"Actually yes, it's our prep year before college."

"We were having a conversation before you boys interrupted." Aaron said snidely.

Meredith raised an eyebrow, "That's pretty rude." Aaron's mouth snapped shut. "Seeing as we're new to town, we'd like to meet everyone. I think that we can decide who we talk to. We're big girls now." She finished in a condescending tone.

"Well, there are definitely a lot of great people to meet around here." Caleb told the girls with a friendly smile.

"Sure there are until you jackasses drive them off...or kill them." As soon as the words left the jock's mouth people around them gasped in shock and horror. "Let's see Kate left, Sarah left, Chase, well, he disappeared now didn't he?"

All four girls looked at the jock for a moment. Sheridan shut her eyes and then sighed sadly. "We don't have time to spend with petty people who just want to spread hate and venom." The words had no anger in them, only finality.

"You're choosing them over us?" Kira sounded shocked. "Aaron's right, they drove Kate and Sarah away."

"Two girls who you weren't even friends with, right? So, you really don't know why they left?"

Sheridan asked and could tell they had nothing in response. "We don't choose them over you, we just don't choose you."

Lilith finally spoke. "I think it's time we left."

"Good luck getting home." Kira said snottily.

"I don't think that will be a problem." Quin smiled.

"Actually it won't." Reid interjected. "I could give you a ride back to the dorms."

"That's awfully thoughtful of you. But not necessary." Sheridan told him and the two groups, the Sons and the cousins moved away.

"We insist." Caleb told them. "We don't want you getting lost, or anything happening to you."

"Is there going to be enough room?"

"Well, there will be if we squeeze." Tyler laughed.

Caleb spoke. "You drop the girls off and come back for us."

"No." Quin said strongly. "We can all squeeze. I have a feeling with the noise that group is making the cops will be making the rounds soon. No one should be left behind." When she spoke it was a statement of fact.

Somehow the group managed to all fit inside the large hummer, with Sheridan and Lilith riding in the very back. The boys had offered, but the girls insisted seeing as they were smaller. Silence filled the car as they all focused on their own thoughts. The thrum of power was almost palpable in the vehicle. It didn't stay quiet for long as Reid began to tell jokes and lighten the mood. They reached the school quickly and the girls headed inside.

The Sons sat silently for a moment before Caleb spoke. "That power, that energy, was coming from those girls. You could almost taste it."

"You don't think they're like Chase do you?" Tyler asked.

"No." Pogue answered. "I got bad vibes from that guy in the beginning. Not even dealing with Kate..." he inserted before his friends could bring up his jealous tendencies. "I don't know what it is about those girls."

"They're hot." Reid stated bluntly.

"Thank you Mr. Eloquent." Caleb said dryly. "Let's just keep an eye on them. We can go from there."

Meanwhile...

All four girls sat in Quin and Meredith's room. "Did you feel the power beating off of them?" Quin asked.

"I've never met anyone else so strong, let alone four in one place." Meredith muttered.

Lilith smirked. "You mean besides us? What did you think Sheri?"

"Reid is mischievous, Tyler is quiet and plays second to Reid, Caleb is their leader, and Pogue seems level-headed for the most part, although his emotions are swirling. Caleb and Pogue are both heartbroken currently. And that Aaron made me so mad when he was spouting nonsense, I could just spit." Sheridan ended with angry eyes. "Other than that I didn't get bad vibes off them at all."

"Well, we'll just keep an eye on our new friends. Then we'll go from there..." Quin murmured.

&&&&

The first day of classes dawned clear and bright, and the girls headed to class. Their first class, English Literature, was one they all head together. As soon as they entered an older lady standing near a large chalkboard looked to them. She smiled somewhat warmly and walked closer. "Hello, I'm Eleanor Michaels, Professor Michaels. Most everyone here is familiar with me. You must be the DuVeaux girls?"

"Yes Ma'am." Quin responded.

"Welcome to Spencer." the woman's words encompassed all four girls. Students were filing in past the four. "Not all professors handle seating the same way, but I do it alphabetically. Ms. Donovan, you'll be in row B seat 6, Ms. Harris row D seat 3, Ms. Tetreaux row G seat 2, and Ms. O'Reilly row J seat 9." So saying the professor turned back to her blackboard.

The seats were arranged in stadium seating. The girls shared brief smiles and headed to their respective seats.

"So we meet again."

Meredith turned to find Reid Garwin sitting next to her. "So it seems." she smiled and took out a small recorder and notepad.

"I think they make everyone take this class." he leaned back in his chair. "Maybe the other teachers don't want to get up so early."

Meredith laughed. "Oh come on, this class can't be the only prep students?"

"No, I'm teasing. There aren't too many, but normally that's just because their grades don't qualify. But the ones who are here have been here for the prior four years." Reid leaned closer. "Which leads me to deduce that you four have money and excellent grades."

"You're quite the Sherlock Holmes."

"So tell me, why come here? Why not stay wherever it was you were?"

Meredith's smile tightened slightly. "It was our Grandmother's decision that we come here. It's something she wanted very much."

Lilith threw her jacket over the seat back and got comfortable. She was only a little surprised to see Pogue Parry to her right. She nodded to him and he nodded back. "Do me a favor?"

He looked interested. "What's that?"

"If I start to snore slap me." she murmured dryly.

Pogue laughed and gave her the thumbs up.

Tyler felt it the instant one of the girls sat down next to him. Looking over he saw it was Sheridan, the short quiet one. "Welcome to the world of Michaels." he murmured.

"Oh, thanks!" she responded with a smile. "I love literature, so hopefully this will be good."

Quin took her seat and looked over to see Caleb Danvers in the seat next to hers. Must not be too many D last names she thought to herself. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts and it reminded Quin of Sheridan's words, Caleb and Pogue were currently heartbroken. Poor guy. "Have you had this professor before?" she asked softly.

Caleb snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, yeah, she's pretty cool. It could be a lot more boring, but she tries to make it interesting."

"Good. I need a class that will keep me awake first thing in the morning." she joked.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Caleb straightened. "So, if you don't mind me asking, where did you girls come from before Spencer?"

"Savannah...Georgia?" Quin told him. "Our Grandmother went to Spencer in her youth. She passed away recently and before dying she arranged for us to come here. We went to La Boudeaux Academy for high school." Caleb nodded as he recognized the name of the prestigious private school. "They don't offer this year of prep."

"Your parents didn't mind your Grandmother making those plans?" he asked curiously.

"Actually, our Grandmother raised us. My parents died almost right after I was born."

"I'm sorry."

"It was obviously a long time ago, and I never had a chance to know them. Sometimes the only thing that really bugs me is that I didn't know them long enough to be more upset."

She'd barely finished her sentence when the Professor began speaking.  
&&&


	2. Chapter 2

**2. Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...**

Lilith lay on her bed and groaned. Sheridan looked over from where she was working on her laptop. "Aren't you being a bit melodramatic?"

"I don't even know if I want to go to college." the girl complained. "Now I'm stuck with college algebra and research papers."

"Oh Lil, it isn't that bad." the other girl chuckled. "It isn't like you're not smart enough to get it all done."

"Blah blah blah." Lilith grimaced, and stuck the edge of her finger in her mouth.

"Stop chewing your nails!" Sheridan snapped. "That is a disgusting habit."

"I know, I know, I can't help it. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed." Now Lilith sounded on the down side.

Sheridan stood up and moved over to her cousin. "You're just feeling homesick. I am too. Don't let it get to you Lil. This school is just a year of our lives."

There was a soft rap on the door and then Quin and Meredith were entering the room. "What's up?"

Lilith gave them a weak smile. "Just homesick."

Quin sat down on the bed across from her two cousins. "Yeah, I'm missing Grandmother very much."

Meredith sat down on the bed next to her blonde cousin and tried smiling. "Remember when she used to try to make us soup when we were sick?"

Lilith smiled. "She would make a terrible mess and Millicent would actually reprimand her. I think Millicent was the only person in the world who could get away with doing that."

"One of my favorites is when she taught us how to drive." Sheridan reminded them. "Quin, when you ran over the mailbox I thought you'd be grounded for life, but instead she started laughing so hard."

"Yeah, then she put in a brick mailbox." Quin grinned. "Come on. It's Friday afternoon and we're done with school for the week. Let's go into town and get our nails done or something."

Sheridan snorted. "Well Lil definitely needs a manicure."

"You been gnawing again Lil?" Meredith teased and got a tongue pointed out at her in response.

Max's Diner was filled with kids from both Spencer Academy, and the local public high school. Caleb raised a hand to signal Pogue as he entered the restaurant. Reid, Tyler, and Caleb had beat their friend there, but hadn't started the conversation out of respect. Pogue took a seat quickly. Caleb spoke. "Nothing in the book. Not one thing."

"Maybe they have their own book?" Tyler murmured.

"What'll you boys have?" the older waitress had approached and was looking at them expectantly. The four placed their order and waited for her to leave.

"Okay, well I did a little digging." Pogue told the others.

"And?" Caleb asked.

Pogue ran a hand through his hair and began. "I looked into their files at the school. For the most part they had excellent grades at their last school. Quin's parents, and Sheridan's parents are dead. Lilith's dad is dead. Otherwise the contact in case of emergency is either a Henry Seidhouer, attorney at law, or a Millicent Travis. Their Grandmother was one Selena Bishop-DuVeaux."

"Wait a minute? Her maiden name was Bishop?" Reid asked.

Caleb looked thoughtful. "Wasn't the first woman hanged in the Salem witch trials a Bishop?"

"Exactly." Pogue leaned closer. "Bridget Bishop was hanged after years of being accused of being a witch. What if these girls are somehow descendants of that woman?"

"Wait though, that's assuming that Bridget Bishop was even a real witch? A lot of those people who were killed were innocents." Tyler interjected. "We don't even know if their families originated in Massachusetts."

"Quin told me in class that her Grandmother attended Spencer in her youth." Caleb murmured. "Maybe we could look up her files?"

"Would they go back that far?" Reid looked skeptical. "I mean, we don't even know when she attended."

Tyler shrugged. "We could start by doing some internet research. Now that we know the woman's name."

"Speak of the devil, or devils in this case." Reid muttered. "Look who just walked into the Diner."

Caleb looked up and caught sight of the very girls they were speaking of. They were looking around trying to find a table, which was difficult in the busy restaurant. The redhead, Meredith, looked over and Caleb lifted a hand to call them over.

"Look the Sons of Ipswich." Merry murmured to Lilith. "They're inviting us over."

"This place is packed. Guess it wouldn't hurt to join them." Lilith responded. The four girls made their way over to the large round table the boys were seated at. "Hey guys."

Reid and Tyler were already rounding up some additional chairs. Caleb smiled at them. "Why don't you all join us? There aren't a lot of open tables right now."

"Thanks, we appreciate it." Meredith said taking one of the available chairs.

"So what have you ladies been doing this afternoon?" Reid asked with a charming grin.

"Pampering with a capitol P." Quin laughed.

Sheridan nodded. "We were feeling a bit homesick so we went and got manicures, pedicures, and went clothes shopping."

"Definitely a satisfying afternoon." Meredith sighed.

"You don't have any packages or bags?" Pogue finally entered the conversation.

Quin grinned. "We stopped at the car before coming inside. There's barely room for us in here let alone what we bought."

Reid snorted. "Buy a lot did we?"

"Enough." The blonde girl responded. "Necessities for school…"

"I hardly think Guitar Hero was a school necessity." Meredith murmured.

"I love Guitar Hero!" Tyler seemed shocked.

"Quin and Lil are addicted to it." Merry informed them with a roll of her eyes.

"You don't play video games?" Pogue asked the redhead.

Quin smirked. "No, Merry's normally got her head stuck in a book and an ipod in her ears."

"I like to read. There's nothing wrong with that."

Reid leaned closer to Sheridan. "And what is it you like to do?"

"I like to shoot pool, darts, foosball; games like that. I like to cook a lot too, although my little dorm room isn't going to give me much of a chance for that."

The waitress came back then bearing the previously ordered food and took the girls' orders. The woman gave them a smile and moved off.

"We all like to play pool and that stuff." Lil said and snagged one of Tyler's fries. He frowned slightly as his friends laughed. "I mean, it's not like playing Guitar Hero is the only thing we ever do."

"I play saxophone." Quin offered.

"What do you guys do for fun?" Meredith asked.

"There's a bar in town we hang out at. Most of the Spencer kids go there, along with some of the public school kids." Caleb explained. "They've got pool tables, foosball tables, air hockey, and a few arcade games. It's cool."

"But it's a bar? Do they not card?"

"Ya know we've never tried to break the rules, so I don't know." Pogue laughed.

"Not saying we don't tip back a drink or two sometimes," Reid added, "but we keep that away from Nicky's. Please tell me you're not teetotalers?"

The girls laughed, but Lilith answered. "Um, no, not teetotalers. We drink on occasion, although Sheri normally doesn't."

All eyes turned to the petite girl and she grimaced. "Every time I drink something bad happens…and when I say bad, I mean BAD." She stressed the word.

"So, what are you girls doing tonight?" Tyler asked. "I mean, if you all don't have any plans you should come with us to Nicky's. It's a lot of fun!"

The girls looked at each other for a moment before Quin responded. "That actually sounds like fun. Get us out of the dorms for awhile."

"Cool." Reid smiled. "Well, if you want, Ty and I could give you a ride?"

"Oh no, that's okay. Thanks for the offer though. If you wouldn't mind could we follow you?" Meredith asked. "We have our own car."

"That's fine." Reid assured them.

Their food finally arrived and as the group finished eating the group began making plans for when they would meet that evening.


	3. Chapter 3

**3. Night on the Town**

The Sons of Ipswich sat in the large game room of the Danvers Mansion. They still had an hour and a half before they had to be back at the dorms to lead the girls to Nicky's. Caleb's mother was nowhere to be seen, but ever since his father had willed his power to Caleb at her request she'd gone into a deep mourning. When Caleb had told her that he and Sarah had broken up she'd cried, but then she'd sobered and looked at him, "My darling boy." She'd whispered. "Some girls just can't handle living in this kind of world. The only way I survived was because I had you. Most of the time I didn't want to."

Caleb could honestly say her words had surprised him slightly. He knew how hard it was for her. He knew how much she'd loved his father. Hell, the reason he stayed at home, and not in the dorms was so he could be closer to her. He just never knew that she hadn't wanted to be there.

Caleb looked at his friends as they sat shooting the breeze. Tyler was still Reid's shadow in a lot of ways, but he'd come into his own since his ascension too. He stood up for himself more, and he didn't take nearly as much of Reid's bullshit as he used to. Caleb had seen a big difference in Reid since his ascension as well. His blonde friend was still arrogant, but he'd also mellowed a bit. For so long Caleb had been worried that Reid would be lost to the magic addiction, but his friend had surprised him. Reid had also surprised him by not hitting on one of the new girls too. Pogue was the one worrying him now. Sure Caleb had been dealt a lousy hand. Fighting Chase, losing his father, despite the man being a monster, and in the end losing Sarah, but Pogue…it looked as though Pogue was only going through the motions of living. Nearly dying at the hand of Chase hadn't been what did it. Neither had Kate's illness. No, it was Kate's rejection that had been the final straw for his friend. Finally, everything had snowballed and it was as if the other boy had shattered inside. Not that it was obvious to your average bystander. But the Sons weren't average. They'd grown up together. They were more brothers than friends; the only four people in the world who knew what the others were going through. At least that's what they'd always thought…until the new girls had come. The DuVeaux girls…that's what Professor Michaels, and Provost Higgins had called the girls.

"Do you think it's all of them, or just one of them?" he asked abruptly drawing the others attention. "I'm not even sure it's one of them."

Reid said stretching out on one of the couches. "I mean come on, we're fucking warlocks, wouldn't we have heard of others with magical ability?"

"Not necessarily…" Tyler began.

Pogue interrupted. "Why would we have? We don't know everything out there Reid. Hell, we didn't even know about Chase. Look how that bit us in the ass."

"I thought you said this didn't feel like the Chase situation." Reid snapped.

"Well it doesn't, but that doesn't mean a lot does it? They look cute and innocent, but it doesn't mean they are." Pogue shot back. "Don't let your dick lead you into something that could be bad!"

"Come on guys…" Tyler tried to break in.

Reid was pissed. "I'm not letting my dick lead me into anything. I haven't made one move towards any of those girls. Maybe you're just trying to find fault with them because they're chicks and you're pissed at all chicks now because of Kate!"

"Enough!" Caleb's voice was harsh. "What is with the squabbling? We're not in grade school any more guys! We'll figure this out. We're keeping our eyes on them. At this point in time they don't seem to be a threat. If they develop into one then we'll handle it together, because that's what we do. Something we do need to keep in mind though," his voice had quieted and all of his friends looked to him as their anger dissipated. "If we can sense them, and there is something magical to them, then chances are they can sense us." &&&

"Does this top look okay?" Quin's voice came from the other side of the room. Meredith turned from the mirror where she was busy applying mascara to look at her blonde cousin. Quin had chosen a short red skirt and a black off the shoulder long-sleeved top. She'd worn black heels that added three inches to her height. The outfit hugged her lithe figure and her white blonde hair flipped outward.

"You look hot." Merry told her cousin honestly. "Are we on the prowl tonight?"

Quin shrugged and moved to her make up mirror to add finishing touches. "There might be some hot boys to flirt with there…"

Meredith smiled. Quin definitely liked a good flirt. "Well, we know there'll be hot guys since we're following them there." Merry had decided to wear a brown baby doll top with cream leggings, and brown knee high boots. The colors looked wonderful with her auburn hair.

There was a knock on the door and Quin went to answer it. "Yeah, I know." She responded as she let Lil and Sheridan in. "But until we know what's up with them and the strange vibes they give off…well, I'm not sure we should be flirting with them too much."

"Talking about the Sons?" Lilith asked as she sat on the edge of Merry's bed. She'd chosen to wear black hip hugger jeans, black biker boots, and a tight Pink Floyd t-shirt. Her ebony hair was braided and it served to emphasize her green eyes even more.

"Not really." Meredith answered.

Quin agreed. "Sort of just in passing."

Sheridan was leaning in applying her lip gloss in Meredith's mirror. "Well, I would like to know what those people were talking about at the bonfire. Not necessarily about the girls, heck, people break up all the time. But they mentioned some guy named Chase, and made it sound like those guys had killed him…what was that about?" Sheri had curled her chestnut hair and it looked soft as it fell in waves to her shoulders. She wore a short flirty black skirt and a white t-shirt with short black sleeves; the popular black ballet flats encased her small feet.

"It's eight, we'd better head out." Lilith said as she stood.

The girls made their way out to the parking area to the Ford Edge they'd purchased to share while at school. They had their own cars at home, but it had made no sense to bring four cars to the school. Reid and Tyler stood next to the black Hummer.

"Hey guys!" Sheridan said brightly.

"Ladies." Reid greeted as he checked them out openly. "Caleb and Pogue are meeting us there. Shall we jet?"

The drive to Nicky's wasn't long or involved. All four girls stared at the bar in fascination. They'd never been anywhere like it. It was bigger than any of the small bars in their hometown of Donner's Fall, right outside of Savannah. It looked, at least from the outside, that it was already busy inside. They parked and the six of them headed inside. The music blasted as they entered. Reid pointed to the right in the direction of round tables, and the girls saw that Caleb and Pogue had already put two tables together and were waiting. They all took seats and a waitress came over to take their orders. It wasn't long before Reid and Tyler were heading over to claim a pool table. Lilith and Sheridan headed over with them.

Quin sat back in her chair tapping her foot to the beat of the music. "I like this place." She announced.

"It's the best hang out we have." Caleb smiled.

"Can I ask you a question? A really personal question?" Meredith spoke quietly but the three at the table could hear her.

Caleb glanced quickly at Pogue then back to her. "Shoot."

"That Aaron guy, the one on the beach right before school started…"

"Aaron Abbot." Caleb informed her.

"Right, that guy said you all were suspected of killing someone. A guy named Chase. What was he talking about?"

Pogue came to attention, and Caleb regarded her silently. Quin smiled wryly. "Trying to decide if you're going to tell the truth?"

This comment brought Pogue's attention to her. "Why would we lie?" he asked.

"Chase wasn't a nice guy. He pretended to be when he first got here, but he wasn't. He killed a kid. Then he tried to kill my girlfriend, and me. We fought, and both gave as good as we got, and then he disappeared. I think he's dead, but I don't know." Caleb told them.

Meredith was quiet for a moment. "Thank you. You didn't have to tell us since it's none of our business."

"So, you believe me?"

Quin looked at her cousin who was still meeting Caleb's eyes. Quin looked over at Pogue and raised one eyebrow. "We believe you." she told Caleb although she looked at Pogue. "No reason not to." Her head whipped around quickly and it startled both boys.

"Quin?" Merry started, but then a frown marred her face. "Not that Abbot guy. I knew that guy was trouble..."

Caleb and Pogue's gazes followed the girls' to see Aaron Abbot leading Sheridan out onto the small dancefloor. Looking over at the pool table they could see that Reid was angry. Lilith leaned back against the pool table as if she had not a care in the world, and Tyler just looked between Reid and Aaron with concern etched on his face.

Reid set the pool cue down and started to move onto the dancefloor when Lilith slapped her hand lightly onto his chest. "She can handle it big boy."

"She's little, that guy's scum." Reid's voice was intense.

"Just watch."

Sheridan sighed as Aaron put his arms around her waist. She should have just said no, but she'd spent too many years of her life being pleasant to people. So now she was stuck dancing with him.

"I think we got off to a bad start." he told her as he looked down at her.

"I just don't like spreading rumors." she told him. "I like to give people a chance."

"Well, I hope you'll give me a chance." he said with a smile.

Reid almost lost his mind when he saw Aaron's hand inch downward towards Sheridan's ass. Sheridan sighed again, shut her eyes and projected. As soon as his fingers reached several things happened. Reid moved forward, Quin stood up, and Aaron, giving a small cry, tripped falling flat on his face. The music shut off and everyone stared at the fallen boy in silence.

"Oh my god!" he cried in an extremely nasal voice. "I dink I broke by dose!" Indeed blood was seeping down his face between his fingers.

Caleb looked at Reid with a severe frown, but instead saw his friend watching the proceedings in complete shock. Something had happened, but it hadn't been caused by Reid or Tyler...


	4. Chapter 4

**4. Truces**

Sheridan stood silently looking down on the now bleeding Aaron Abbot. "Are you okay?" she asked flatly. "What happened?" No emotion entered her voice as she spoke.

"By dose." he whined.

"Wow, that doesn't look so good." Sheridan told him not moving a muscle.

Lilith heaved a large sigh and moved away from her reclining position near the pool table. She moved over to him grabbing a cloth off of the bar and filling it with ice. "Here." she said handing him the make shift ice pack. "Put this on your forehead and then press your first two fingers against your upper lip under your nostrils." While he did this she wiped away the excess blood with another towel. Then she slapped him on the back...hard. "You'll be fine. Gotta watch where you're putting your feet big guy." Finally she stood and grabbed Sheridan's hand. The two girls made their way over to the table where Quin and Meredith sat.

Caleb and Pogue were eying the four girls with suspicion. Meredith didn't seem too concerned though. "Are you okay Sheri?" she murmured.

Reid and Tyler made their way to the table. "What the hell happened out there?" Reid demanded.

Sheridan looked at him through innocent brown eyes. "He must've tripped."

"What'd he trip on?"

"Don't know. I didn't see." she told the blonde boy. Her cheeks were starting to flush with anger.

It looked as though Reid might say more, but Caleb sent a hand out and silenced him with a touch on the arm. "We thought we might have to head over and rescue you." Caleb said lightly. "Looked like Aaron was getting grabby."

Sheridan shrugged. "Yeah, but nothing I couldn't have handled if he hadn't have tripped. The boy should really watch where he's going."

An uncomfortable silence filled the small area. "I think I'm gonna go play a video game." Pogue finally muttered.

Lilith stood and stretched. "Another game of pool boys?" she asked Reid and Tyler. "Sheridan and I weren't done cleaning your clocks." Quin went with the foursome to watch the pool game leaving Caleb and Meredith alone.

"That trip was quite opportune." Caleb spoke.

"Wasn't it?" Meredith answered.

"I can honestly say I've danced out there many times and never had a problem."

"Must be more graceful than Abbot."

"We know." he told her bluntly.

Meredith leaned forward with a slight smirk. "And what exactly is it you know?"

"That you four, you're all different." his voice was low and intense

"Sort of like you all?" her tone matched his intensity.

"I highly doubt we're the same."

"You got that right." her mouth twisted wryly.

"You gonna tell me what yall are? Who yall are?"

Meredith leaned back and smiled. "Just as soon as you tell me about The Sons of Ipswich. That gonna be any time soon?"

Caleb looked at her silently for a moment. "Doubt it."

"Well then, there you have it." She took a drink of her soda and blotted her lips with her napkin. "Guess we're not all up for show and tell."

"I don't know if we should trust you." Once again his voice was blunt. Sensing his friend's growing anxiety Pogue had made his way back to the table and sat down quietly.

"And we were all getting along so well." She said dryly. Meredith looked around the room and sighed. "Look, we didn't come here knowing about you. Believe it or don't. And obviously, you didn't know anything about us. You don't feel like sharing, and I'm not much for telling long stories either, so why don't we just agree to keep doing what we've been doing?"

"That's fine unless it attracts trouble." he told her. "Like broken noses."

"That sounds like an accusation? Got proof?" She snapped. "I doubt you've never broken someone's nose before."

Caleb's jaw clenched. Pogue finally spoke. "Look, we're just concerned. This is where we grew up. It's our town. Suddenly you all come to town and it's...different. It wouldn't be so bad if a lot of bad shit hadn't gone down last year, but it did and now we're extra cautious."

Meredith relaxed and nodded slowly. "Okay, I can accept that." She looked over to where her cousins were playing pool and laughing with their new friends. "We're just here for the year. Just for school." Meredith looked down at her hands and then looked up at the two boys and smiled. "It's odd for us too ya know. Feeling that tug. That whisper whenever one of you four comes around. Scared us. It's nowhere near the same feeling as when we sense each other. I don't know what you guys are, and I don't need to know. Hell, a part doesn't ever want to know. As long as you aren't threatening us...well, that's it really. If we're threatened we will fight."

"We aren't a threat to you." Caleb murmured meeting her navy eyes.

"I can say the same to you." she told him sincerely.

"You people are far too serious over here. Looks like someone just stomped on your favorite bug." Lilith told the three as she approached. "Come on Danvers. I've been told you're a foosball genius. It's time I kicked your ass at it."

Caleb quirked an eyebrow at the girl. "Ya think so?" He stood, looked at Meredith one more time, and then walked away with Lil.

"Did you think I was going to rip his face off?" Meredith asked the quietly brooding Pogue.

He looked startled. "No. No, I didn't. He just seemed to be getting upset, and he's my best friend."

"Well, crisis averted." she laughed lightly. "You don't have to sit here. Go back to your game."

He gave her a grin and was off. Meredith sat at the table thinking about what had just transpired. No one had admitted anything, but they'd hopefully come to an understanding. It did make her wonder what had happened the year before though. Normally she and her cousins weren't much for gossip, but this might be a time where it would come in handy. She'd leave it to Quin. That girl could ferret out gossip like a cat for catnip.

The air around Meredith became cool and she shivered. Looking up she caught the gaze of a boy across the bar. He was perhaps a few inches taller than Meredith with dirty blonde hair that was cut in a crew-cut. Dark eyes graced a face that would be considered attractive by a lot of girls. He raised his glass to her and nodded. Meredith felt a slight sinking in the pit of her stomach and it was not pleasant. She looked away from the boy quickly. When she looked up again he was gone.

"I would ask if you come here often, but it sounds like such a line." a deep voice murmured from her right.

Turning she found herself getting an up close look at the boy who'd nodded to her. "Yes, it does." she agreed. "But no I don't."

"That's a shame." he grinned. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Go ahead."

"I'm Jacob Mather." he told Meredith as he took a seat.

"Meredith Harris. Do you go to Spender Jacob?"

"Oh no." he laughed. "It was public school for me; now I go to VoTech for machinery repair. I take it you go to Spencer?"

She nodded. "This year for prep. Next year I'll be going to college. Did you grow up in Ipswich?"

"I did. Born and bred. Did you want something to eat?" he asked charmingly.

Meanwhile...

"Who's that guy talking to Merry?" Quin asked Tyler.

Tyler looked up and frowned. "That's Jacob Mather. He's a local. Works at Joe's Plumbing."

"He's kind of cute." she murmured.

"Dude's trouble." Tyler shrugged.

"Yall aren't friends?"

Reid, having heard the conversation, snickered. "Let's just say our families have always had issues. ALWAYS." He turned to Caleb and Lilith. "Caleb, look who's chatting up Meredith."


	5. Chapter 5

**5. Lessons**

Meredith continued to feel sick as Jacob Mather sat talking to her. It felt as if her stomach was twisting into knots. "So you've lived here your whole life?" she asked.

"Oh yeah." he laughed. "I saw you hanging out with Danvers and his friends."

"Caleb?" Meredith looked over to see Reid talking to Caleb. "Yeah, we all go to school together. He told us about this place. They seem nice enough."

"Oh I'm sure. Just be careful." he told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know it's just weird ya know? This new girl came up here last year, started dating Danvers, then suddenly Parry's girl gets like terminally ill, and almost dies, Parry gets into a nearly fatal motorcycle accident, and then the old Putnam barn burns down and nearly takes Danvers and his girl out with it. There was another kid there that either disappeared or didn't get out of the barn in time. Just seems like a lot of really bad shit goes down around those guys."

Meredith frowned. "That does seem odd."

"There are rumors ya know..." he seemed about to say something.

"Like what?" Meredith asked. She didn't want to know, but could tell he wanted to speak.

"You'll probably think I'm crazy..." he muttered. Then he leaned closer. "There are all these rumors saying that he and his friends are into devil worship, ya know, like witchcraft? The Sons of Ipswich...whatever."

Merry's mouth twitched upward, "Witchcraft? Devil worship?"

"Isn't it the same thing?"

"I don't think so. I guess I don't really know." she responded with a shrug.

Caleb had approached. "Hey Meredith, I think we're all gonna take off and go hang out at my house, did you want to come?" He seemed to be trying to telegraph something with his eyes.

"Oh, are my cousins going?"

"Yeah." he answered. "Jacob, how's it going?"

"Same old same old, how about you Caleb? Sorry to hear about your break up with Sarah man, that must've been harsh." Jacob's voice lacked any type of sincerity.

"Happens. She just wanted something different." Caleb's jaw had tightened.

"It was nice to meet you Jacob." Merry said standing up. "Let's go Caleb." The two walked over to join the rest of the group. "Thought you didn't condone broken noses?" she murmured to him as they walked.

"That guy tempts me in the worst possible way." he told her tightly.

"He did have some different ideas." she smiled wryly.

"Perhaps you'd care to share those?"

"How about this...You tell me why you hate him, why he hates you, and why he makes me sick to my stomach, and I'll share with you?"

Caleb was silent for a few minutes and then looked to his friends. "Fine." he finally said.

The girls were silent in the car as they followed the small procession of Caleb's car, Pogue's bike, and Reid and Tyler in the Hummer. When they pulled up to the huge home, more like mansion really, Quin whistled. "Nice digs." she muttered.

"Smells like old magic." Sheridan said sniffing the air. "Old magic and old money."

"Very old, but it's warm ya know, not cold and ugly." Lilith joined the conversation quietly.

Meredith listened to her cousins first thoughts on the Danvers home. She couldn't disagree with any of them. It was a huge and lovely home. Whatever magic these boys carried didn't feel ugly, although she was sure it could be if they wanted it to. That was just a part of magic...how someone chose to use it.

The girls followed the boys up to the door and through it. Meredith felt a sigh breathe over her as she entered. Sheridan grasped her arm and whispered in her ear. "There is someone in here who suffers greatly."

Merry only nodded and followed everyone. Caleb led them to a large game room and Lilith gave a little whoop of joy as she spotted the pool table. Caleb was already moving over to a small bar area and pulling sodas out of the small refrigerator.

"Caleb?" an older woman's voice called out and they all looked to the door to see a lovely dark haired woman entering the room. She weaved a bit as she walked and Caleb moved to her quickly. "I didn't know you were bringing home friends?"

"We got tired of Nicky's." he murmured as he looked at her sadly.

She put her hand on his cheek and smiled at him. "You're a good boy." Then she turned to look at the girls. "Who are your new friends?"

The girls moved over to be introduced to the woman. "Mom this is Lilith, Sheridan, Quin, and Meredith. They go to school with us."

Each girl shook the woman's hand. Finally it came time for Meredith and she took the woman's hand in hers. Here there was great pain and suffering. The woman was washing her sorrows away in booze and it was damaging her body. Meredith held her hand gently and looked into the woman's eyes. "It's a real pleasure to meet you Mrs. Danvers."

For a moment it seemed as if Evelyn Danvers was caught in the girl's gaze. Then suddenly she was hugging Meredith to her. "I'm so glad to meet you Meredith." she spoke softly and then let the girl go. Evelyn brushed Meredith's hair away from her face. "My God you're beautiful." Then she looked at the other girls and nodded slightly. "All of you. I'm so glad you came over tonight."

Caleb and the others looked on with confusion and suspicion. "Mom?"

Evelyn turned to Caleb and her eyes seemed more bright and focused than they had for a very long time. "It's okay Baby. I'm going to leave you and your friends on your own. Have fun okay?" She leaned in and kissed Caleb on the cheek. Caleb was shocked that the smell of alcohol was completely gone. With that she turned and walked steadily from the room.

"What did you do to her?" he asked curiously as he watched the empty doorway. There was no accusation in his tone.

Meredith walked over to him and caught his gaze. "I helped her." she said simply.

Caleb looked at the redhead in front of him for a moment and then nodded. How could he say anything else? His mother, for the first time in a long time, was sober and happy.

"Perhaps it's story time?" Reid broke into everyone's thoughts.

Pogue nodded. "Maybe it is time for The Sons of Ipswich and the DuVeaux Girls to learn about each other."


	6. Chapter 6

**6. Storytelling**

"We're called the Sons of Ipswich because our families were four of the first five original families that founded the town." Caleb began. "There were five families; Danvers, Parry, Simms, Garwin, and Putnam. The Putnams were thought to have been wiped out a long time ago. Every generation a son is born into the families." Caleb looked as if he didn't know how to continue. He didn't the only person he'd ever told about the Covenant had been Sarah, and look what had happened.

"We have a book." Tyler began speaking when he saw Caleb stuck. "It's called the Book of Damnation. It's basically our history. The history of Ipswich and the five families, and then the four families. We always thought there were only four of us. The four families took a Covenant of Silence."

Pogue moved over to a couch across from where the girls were sitting and sat facing them. "Until last year when a new student showed up. His name was Chase Collins. Bad things started to happen and we found out that he was actually the descendant of the fifth family."

"Not before I got blamed for the bad shit though." Reid said mockingly.

The girls watched and listened in silence as the boys seemed to gather their thoughts. Finally Caleb spoke again. "We're born with special gifts. Mystical gifts. We can do things." He seemed frustrated as he tried to explain. "We're warlocks. We can pretty much do whatever we want. We can make things happen...but there are side effects."

"What kind of side effects?" Quin asked.

"It's addictive. Anytime we use it gets more and more addictive." Tyler explained.

Pogue added, "And since we've ascended now if we use it can age us. Like it eats into our life force."

"You ascend when you reach eighteen." Caleb murmured. "We've all ascended and we all try real hard not to use too much. Part of how my father died was from using too much. He aged rapidly. He was in his forties and looked like he was in his nineties." Caleb ran a hand through his hair. "When Chase came he'd discovered he liked the power. He'd also discovered that if someone willed their power to the other person, then it was a good way to become stronger. He'd forced his father to will him his power. That's what he wanted from me. I was the first to ascend. He wanted me to will him my power."

Reid stood and began pacing. "Fucker put Pogue in the hospital and almost killed Pogue's girl Kate. He took Caleb's girl and put her in a trancelike state."

"The only way I beat Chase was because my mother talked my father into willing me his power. In doing so it cost him his life." Caleb interrupted Reid's rant. "I'm almost sure he died in that fire at the Putnam barn, but I don't know for sure. His body wasn't found."

The room sat in silence for several moments as the information was absorbed. Lilith, Quin, and Sheridan all looked to Meredith. Meredith met each of their eyes and then looked to the boys. "What do you know about Bridget Bishop?"

Pogue shrugged. "We did a little research based on some files we looked into. Born in the 1600's, married three times. Last husband was Edward Bishop, and to record never had any children."

"Which is where the records are wrong." Meredith smiled slightly. "Edward and Bridget Bishop were parents to twin boys, Alexander and Donner Bishop. Bridget had already been accused several times of witchcraft by the time her boys were born. She and her husband gave the children to his sister, Sarah Bishop Wilder to raise. Bridget misled people to believe she'd had a stillbirth. Our line passes down through Donner Bishop."

Sheridan stood and went to look out the nearest window. "Bridget was a powerful witch, but she didn't have anything to do with the dark lord. She never caused harm to any, and it was even later said that the people who'd accused recanted their tales. Too late unfortunately. Sarah never denied Alexander or Donner information on their birth parents. She was a good woman. We have our own book detailing their lives and the lives of their descendants." She made her way back to the couch and sat again. "Bridget Bishop, and her son, Donner Bishop, are our ancestors."

Meredith leand forward. "Similar to yourselves we carry power within us. However, we do not have the same detriments that you do. It is not an addiction to us, it is simply a way of life, it is our life. We respect it. And we do not age when we use our abilities, or cast."

"So, you use spells, or incantations, or do you just make things happen?" Tyler seemed fascinated.

"It's a little bit of both really." Quin smiled. "There are simple things we can do, and there are forces we can call up to respond to us, but we also enjoy the ritual. Candles, altars, athames, and incense."

"In our family the power has also been passed down from generation to generation. It never skipped." Lilith murmured as the nights conversations played themselves out in her head.

Quin tilted her head to the side. "Until our mothers. None of our mothers were bestowed with our gifts."

"Until our mothers there were always four children in the Bishop family, coming down from Donner Bishop, and these four inherited the gifts, and were known as the Four Winds. North, East, South, and West." Lilith explained.

"Your necklaces." Reid muttered.

Meredith grinned. "Exactly."

"I thought it was weird that Meredith Harris wore a necklace with the initial W." he smirked.

"Meredith is West, the tower of water. Sheridan is East, the tower of earth, Lilith is South, the tower of fire, and I'm North, the tower of air." Quin told the boys. "That's how Meredith was able to help Ms. Danvers, water purifies."

"So, now that we know what we all are," Meredith spoke looking at Caleb, "Tell me about Jacob Mather. Tell me why he sickens me for no apparent reason."


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: Cotton Mather did exist, and was involved with the Salem Witch Trials, however I completely made Isaac and his brood up. _**

**7. Enemy Mine**

Caleb sneered. "Jacob's family goes back about as far as ours does, but they started in Salem. His ancestor Cotton Mather was a huge influence in the trials. He was a Puritan minister and was the first to condone the use of so-called 'spectral evidence' in beginning investigations into different people who'd been accused. It wasn't Cotton Mather who caused the most problems though. It was his brother, Isaac, and Isaac's sons. Even after the trials were finished Isaac and his children continued to seek out, persecute, and punish those they suspected of witchcraft." Caleb got up and went to get another soda. "One of Isaac's sons, Hampton Mather, made his way to Ipswich and began the Mather legacy here. Ever since then they've been a thorn in our side. Just as I'm sure they say the same about us."

"Witchhunters?" Sheridan murmured with a horror filled voice. "In today's day and age there are witchhunters?"

"Well, so far Jacob really hasn't messed with us too much, other than the occasional rumor, or we find out that he's asked our friends weird questions…All I know is that if he is following in his family's footsteps it can only lead to bad."

"Is he the only one?" Lilith asked.

"Dude's got two older brothers." Reid told her. "They're both as big of dipshits as he is."

"No one's ever believed the rumors?" Meredith asked Caleb, ignoring the arrogant blonde boy for the moment.

Caleb shrugged. "There are people who think we're different, but most people just attribute it to our wealth. Most people don't accept magic as a reason for difference."

She nodded. "That's true. We've never been questioned about that kind of stuff. Not that we're not gossiped about." She smiled wryly, "Unfortunately our family is so dysfunctional they could write several books on us….without including magic." Meredith sighed. "So, tell me, is this going to be a problem? Is he the type of guy who'll take a 'sorry not interested'?"

Reid snorted. "Does he look like the type to give up easily?" he asked with a tinge of sarcasm.

"Mer, that dude looked like trouble with a capital T." Quin sounded worried.

"Well I'm not going to stop going out of the dorms Quin." Meredith knew her cousin was concerned but it didn't make a difference. "I mean, first off he doesn't suspect us of anything, at least that we know of. He just thinks we're hanging out with these guys."

"What did he say to you?" Pogue asked.

"Said that there were all kinds of rumors about you talking about witchcraft and devil worship, and then he just started talking about things that happened last year. Your girlfriend getting sick," She told them looking at Pogue. "Your motorcycle accident, Caleb's girlfriend and Caleb almost burning in the fire; and he did mention that Chase guy disappearing. That was all he got to before Caleb got there."

"Oh my gosh! How much of that is true?" Sheridan asked the boys. The look on her face was horrified.

"Well, almost all of it. I mean we don't worship the devil," Pogue explained and shook his head, "But I was in an accident, and my girlfriend of the time did get ill, real ill, because Chase used his power on her."

"And Sarah, my ex was in the barn when Chase and I were fighting because Chase put her into a trance." Caleb finished.

The girls looked at Sheridan, whose startled face smoothed. "Truth." She said simply.

"What?" Reid asked looking confused.

Sheridan bestowed a smile on him. "It's one of my gifts. I can tell truth from lie in almost every situation. We all have little things like that we can do."

"That doesn't seem like such a little thing." Tyler murmured.

"Sure does save time when dating, or becoming friends with someone." Her smile brightened.

"You can read our minds?" Now it was Reid's turn to look horrified.

She laughed. "No, I can't read your mind. It just…how do I explain this…feels different, tastes different, smells different? Does that make sense?"

"And you can all do things like that?" Caleb was fascinated.

"Well, not exactly like that, but yeah, sort of." Quin leaned back. "Sometimes I can see shadows of what's to come. It's not really telling the future, it's more of a oh, yeah, that's gonna happen."

"Like with the cops coming the night we met?" Pogue asked, "You were sure they were gonna show and didn't want to leave us behind."

"Exactly."

"What can you do?" Caleb asked Lilith.

"I get glimpses of past occurrences." She shrugged. "Sometimes it's fun and useful, sometimes it's not. Like for instance the girl who had the bed in my dorm before me….nasty. I had to buy a new mattress. There was no way on this earth I was sleeping on it."

"And you?" Now Caleb turned to Meredith.

"I can help heal people." She said and met his dark gaze.

"Like my mom? Emotionally?"

"Emotionally, mentally, physically. Just depends on the wound."

"That's cool." Tyler was nodding. "Real cool. Most of ours is all physical manifestation."

"But they said they can do that too." Reid jumped in. "Sheridan did it to Aaron tonight…right?"

Sheridan looked cross. "He did grab my ass." She pointed out.

"So yall are like all powerful." Reid seemed perturbed at this thought.

"As if." Lilith snarked. "We are not even close to being all powerful. If we were all powerful I would never have to see my mother again for as long as I lived. That ain't gonna happen."

"Everything has limits Reid. While we don't age rapidly, or get addicted, the magic does make us extremely tired for a time after we use. We have to get a lot of rest. And we don't have total control." Meredith soothed the boy.

"Hence Sheridan not drinking." Lilith smirked now.

Quin was looking at Pogue and Caleb. "So…what now…now that we know each other's stories, what now?"

"She's right." Meredith nodded and looked at her blonde cousin. "Do we stop associating? Do we remain friends?"

Caleb looked at his lifelong friends and then looked back at the girls thoughtfully. "I see no reason why we can't stay friends. It's hard to find friends that really understand where you're coming from."


	8. Chapter 8

**8. We Meet Again**

Monday came and everyone showed up to class. Quin took her seat next to Caleb and smiled briefly. "How are you Caleb?"

"Pretty good. How was the rest of your weekend?"

"Pretty tame. We ended up going to a movie Saturday night, and then yesterday Meredith cracked the whip and we did some studying. Then we played some GuitarHero."

Caleb smiled. "Perfect day for it. Cold and rainy."

&&

Lilith pushed a second piece of gum into her mouth and sighed.

"I didn't want to get out of bed either." Pogue told her as he slid into his spot. "I could've used at least two more hours sleep."

Lil nodded. "This rain makes everything so damned gloomy."

"I hate it because I can't ride my bike."

"Dude, I didn't even think of that. Bummer."

&&&

Meredith finished licking the envelope and sealing it. She'd spent a little time writing to Millicent and wanted to get the letter into the mail that morning yet.

"What's up Red?"

Both eyebrows raised and she turned to look into Reid's smirking face. "Red?"

"Sure, red hair, ya know?"

"I just figured you could come up with something more intellectual than that old name." she told him in a slightly condescending tone. "Although, thinking about it, I suppose I'm not surprised."

"Damn, you're vicious." he winced and laughed. "What're you doing?"

"Getting a letter ready to mail."

"Boyfriend?" he asked innocently.

Meredith rolled her eyes at him then she wondered what he was up to. He wasn't interested in her in the slightest, so why ask. "No actually, our housekeeper back home. She helped raise us."

He looked surprised. "Oh, and she knows..."

"Yes." Meredith told him. "She knows."

"Can she..."

"No, she can't."

"Cool." he nodded.

&&&

Tyler was sitting minding his own business when Sheridan rushed to her seat. "I can not believe I almost forgot my paper to turn in. I mean duh, it's the only major thing I had to work on for the last week, and I almost leave it just sitting there on my desk. Thank goodness I had to go back and get my binder or I would've really forgotten it. But I got into the room and happened to see it there and was like, ah ha."

He just blinked at her as she rambled and finally she ran out of steam. "It's not due until tomorrow." he reminded her.

"Oh, I know. But it's done, so there's no reason not to turn it in today, ya know?" Sheridan dropped her heavy backpack to the ground. "I think I'm going to have to go into town this afternoon. My backpack broke and duct-tape only works for so long. Besides I'd sort of like a black one. This red just isn't my style at all."

Just then the Professor entered and began her lecture.

&&&

In all the four girls managed to intermix with the Sons of Ipswich throughout their classes all day. While all eight weren't always together they were always intermingling. Meredith decided it was good they'd decided to remain friends because there was no way they could avoid each other. She either found herself in a class with Caleb and Lilith, or another class with Reid and Tyler. It almost seemed as if the Sons were becoming a constant in their lives, and Meredith had to wonder how much of that was Fate, and how much coincidence. Her grandmother would have told her that there was no such thing as coincidence and that everything happened for a reason. If that was the case she certainly didn't know why she and her cousins were brought together with the Sons. All in all, it seemed that it would be a recipe for disaster.

The four girls were wandering around town when they ran into Pogue and Tyler. "Ladies." Tyler smiled when he saw them.

"What are you guys up to?" Quin asked.

"Pogue had to pick up a few bike parts, and I thought I'd browse through some cds." he told them.

"What are you all doing?" Pogue asked with interest.

"Shopping." Sheridan told him cheerfully.

"It seems like ever since we got here we've been shopping." Lilith muttered. "Not that I mind shopping, but sometimes it gets old. Although I wouldn't mind checking out the cds. Mind if I tag along?"

Tyler shrugged. "That's cool."

"I'll come." Meredith told them. Quin and Sheridan gave them a short wave, and the other four headed to the music store.

They'd been looking around for about twenty minutes, and each had several items to purchase when Meredith felt a churning begin in the pit of her stomach. Looking around with a frown she noticed that Jacob Mather and another man had entered the store and were approaching her. The man looked similar to Jacob, but older so she assumed it was one of his brothers. She tried to paste on as pleasant a smile as possible.

"Hey Meredith! I didn't think I'd see you so soon." Jacob told her as he neared.

"Jacob, how are you doing?" she asked.

"Real good. This is my brother Adam." he introduced the two. "Adam, this is the girl I was telling you about from Nicky's; Meredith."

"It's nice to meet you Adam." Meredith said politely and shook the hand he stretched out towards her.

Lilith, who'd been near Pogue, made a small noise in the back of her throat and her eyes swung to Meredith immediatly.

"You okay?" Pogue frowned.

Instead of answering Lilith headed to her cousin's side. "Mer?"

"Oh, Jacob, Adam, this is my cousin Lilith. Lil, this is Jacob and Adam Mather." Meredith kept her tone light, but she felt better with her cousin next to her.

"Pleasure." Lilith told the two boys.

"You all just in town for some shopping?" Jacob asked.

"Yep, just grabbing a few things." Lilith told them. "Seems like with the start of classes we're always forgetting something."

"Was that Pogue Parry you were talking to?" Adam asked Lilith.

Lilith kept the smile on her face. "Pogue, yeah. We came to the music store with him and Tyler."

"I didn't realize you all were friends with the Sons of Ipswich." he said looking at his younger brother.

Jacob looked slightly nervous. Meredith shrugged. "To be honest we're friends with a lot of people. We go to school with those guys, and they've been nothing but nice to us."

"Oh, sure. I've always heard...good things about those guys. They're a bit younger than I am." he told the girls pleasantly. "We'd better get going Jake. Nice to meet you girls. Perhaps we'll see you out and about again."

Everyone nodded and the two boys left the store. Meredith found herself clenching her hands around her selections. "Let's buy this stuff Lil. I need to get some air." she murmured.

Once they were outside Pogue and Tyler hurried out. "You okay?" Pogue asked.

Meredith had taken a seat on the bench and had her head hanging down a bit. "Those two just radiate ugly...the older one especially."

Tyler took a seat next to Meredith. "Do you feel okay? Do you need anything?" he asked anxiously.

Sheridan and Quin had seen them and moved over to them quickly. "Mer?" Quin asked concerned.

Pogue looked at the blonde girl. "Run in with the Mather family."

Meredith looked up at everyone and her face was extremely pale. "Isn't it funny that witches are supposed to be evil, and witchhunters are supposed to fight for God, but we're the ones who harm none, and they're the ones who kill innocents." she whispered.

Sheridan knelt in front of her cousin. "Come on sweetheart. Let's get you back to the dorms."


	9. Chapter 9

**9. The First to Fall**

Sheridan stood in the library staring blankly at the books in front of her. It had upset her to see Meredith so unsettled. These Mather men were starting to develop into something of a situation. Grandmother Selena had always warned the girls not to let 'situations' get out of hand. Sheri knew that she wouldn't do anything without consulting the other three girls, but there was no harm in doing some research; was there? Sheridan headed to the historical documents area and was surprised to see Caleb and Pogue. They looked up as soon as she took the last step up the stairs.

Sheridan cocked an eyebrow at them. Caleb was frowning thoughtfully. "Pogue told me you all ran into Jacob and Adam Mather in town. We thought we'd see if we could find anything that wasn't in the Book."

She looked at the various books lining the table in front of the two boys. "Good, it looks like I won't have to go searching for books then. Sometimes reaching the high shelves is a pain in the butt."

The boys smiled at her and indicated the chair on the other side of the table. She took it and grabbed a book to start with. "Geneology of Massachusetts." she murmured. "This might be good reading with or without the Mather issue."

The three got to reading in a companionable silence.

&&&

Lilith was angry...beyond angry really. Intentionally or not those boys had hurt Mer. That was not acceptable. Currently she lay on her bed bouncing a ball on the ceiling. It would hit with an angry snap, and then fall back into her hand with a slight sting. She had tried to play videogames, but hadn't been able to concentrate through her brooding. Sheridan had muttered something about the library and had disappeared. No way was Lil going there.

A knock on the door to the room sounded and Lil, muttering a curse word, got up to answer it. Tyler Simms was on the other side. He looked a bit startled upon seeing Lilith. "Oh, um, hi. Sorry to bug ya, but is Sheridan around?"

"No." Lil told him leaning in the frame of the doorway. Tyler wasn't a bad looking guy, she found herself thinking...the thought shocked her and she almost frowned more severely.

Tyler was looking at Lil as if she might snap his head off at any moment. She looked pissed. "Oh, okay. I was just seeing if she had heard when the next paper due date was... I missed it when Professor Michaels was spouting it off, and I can't find my boys."

Lil sighed. "Come on in, I'll check my outline." She moved from the door and he followed her inside. Lil's heart was racing and she almost felt sick. What the hell was happening? She leaned heavily on the desk and pulled the folder she'd assigned to that course out of the pile. Lil found the date quickly. "Lookee there. Halloween." she told him and turned around.

He stood in the room looking at her and started nodding. His stomach almost hurt seeing her, and his palms were sweating...it confused him. "Thanks." he managed to wheeze.

"Are you okay?" Now she was concerned. Tyler wasn't looking so good. He looked like she felt. She moved towards him and something happened. When she was within five feet it was like she couldn't control her legs anymore. "What is this?" she whispered with a bit of fear.

Tyler swallowed past a lump in his throat. "I don't know." Now his feet were moving and they met in the middle. As soon as they were in front of each other their arms reached out. His went around her slim waist, and hers circled his neck. "I'm not doing this." he promised.

She shook her head and stared up at him through her startling green eyes. "I know, I'm not either." she murmured.

"But it feels..." his face was moving towards hers.

"Right." she finished and then their lips met.

Something akin to a flash of pleasure and pain seemed to engulf them. Both felt a tingling tense sensation move through their bodies and then they both relaxed and deepened the kiss. All worry, and concern left them. All they felt was each other. Lil felt something connecting them and couldn't explain it. All she really knew was that she'd never be the same.

Finally, the two pulled away. Tyler looked down at her and raised a hand to her face. He stroked his knuckles down her cheek. "I don't know what that was, but I'm glad it happened."

She could only nod. Somehow, someway, she almost felt like there was something running between their two bodies. "Why haven't we ever felt this before?" she asked.

Tyler shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly...I just have no idea."

"We should check with the others."

He agreed, and nodded. "Definitely. But whatever they say...I don't want this to change."

She nodded, "No. Me neither." Then she smiled at him and leaned up for another kiss.

&&&

Meredith, Quin and Sheridan got the text to meet Lilith as soon as they could. Reid, Caleb, and Pogue, got the similar message from Tyler. They were all to meet at the place where the Putnam barn used to be. Sheridan, Caleb, and Pogue were all still in the library when the text came through, and they all looked at each other a little oddly when there phones buzzed at almost exactly the same moment. The boys looked at each other. "We have to take off." They told Sheridan as she read her phone. She was already grabbing her purse.

"Yeah, me too." she said with a frown. She had already started walking and was slightly in front of them when she turned back looking confused. "Could you guys give me directions to some place called the Old Putnam Barn?"

Caleb and Pogue looked even more baffled. "That's where we're going." Caleb murmured. "Why don't you ride with us?"

"Cool." she responded hesitantly. "Did Lil text you guys?"

"No." Pogue stared at the girl. "Tyler did...Lil texted you?"

"Yeah." Sheridan started to get worried.

Caleb looked grim. "Let's just get there and find out what's going on." They ran into Meredith and Quin on their way out. "Come on, I'm assuming Lil texted you and you'll need a ride to the barn."

Meredith looked at him strangely. "Yeah, Reid got a text from Tyler, he's on his way down. He had to grab his wallet. We're supposed to meet him here since we don't know the way."

"Yo." Reid called out as he jogged up. "Did baby boy text you too? Anyone know what's going on?"

"No. We're all a bit lost." Pogue responded. "Let's just get there and we can worry from there."


	10. Chapter 10

**10. Tensions **

Lilith and Tyler stood in the middle of the charred ruins of Putnam Barn. There wasn't much space between them when the two cars carrying their friends pulled up and parked. The two gripped each other's hand tightly. As soon as the rest of the Sons and the cousins poured out of the cars and took in the sight of the two clasped hands, there was silent astonishment.

"Baby boy getting some?" Reid mused snottily. He failed to see Tyler's jaw clench.

Quin's head whipped around to look at Reid. "Don't you ever talk about Lil that way!" she snapped.

Reid just rolled his eyes at the girl and blew her off. Caleb looked between Tyler and Lil. "What's going on you guys?"

"Something weird happened." Tyler began.

"You're not foolin around with that statement." Reid muttered. The tension in the air was palpable.

"Could you keep your mouth shut for one minute do you think?" Quin lashed out at him.

"Stop." Meredith murmured and got both of the blondes' attentions. "Lil, don't get me wrong, if you want to be with Tyler, that's fine, but this is sort of sudden…"

Lil nodded. "I know. He came to get some notes from Sheridan. As soon as we were alone in the room together it was like…"

"It was like we couldn't be separated."

"It almost hurt."

Tyler nodded now. "My stomach hurt, I felt sick, and then suddenly she was right there and we were touching and then kissing and everything was perfect. There was like this…" he couldn't find the word.

"Zap or something." She filled in for him.

"Yeah, like a zap, but then it was all better. No more pain or uncomfortable sensations."

"How did this happen?" Meredith was confused. Never before had she heard of anything like it.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, because I do want to know," Lil began and then looked at Tyler. "But I don't care really. I just know I don't want it to change. This feeling is amazing."

The others were silent. Each group thought the same; these actions were so unlike their loved one. Reid finally looked up and at the Lilith coldly. "What'd you do? What magic did you use to ensnare him?"

Lil looked like she'd been slapped, and Tyler held her closer and glared at Reid. "She didn't do anything Reid, weren't you listening at all?"

"Dude, Reid has a point…" Pogue addressed Tyler hesitantly. "I mean, shit like this just doesn't happen."

"What do you mean Reid has a point?" Quin asked abruptly. "How do we know that Tyler didn't do something to Lil? Yall have just as much power as we do."

"That's ridiculous." Caleb had to talk loudly over the others. "If we use it the power ages us. You all have already admitted there are no side effects to your using. I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything but…"

Meredith sighed and moved to Lilith and Tyler. She looked at them both intently. "Obviously we need to find out what's going on, and we'll never do that if we're all constantly arguing." Meredith turned to look at everyone else. "I'm very sorry, but this is needed." She waved a hand at the group and uttered two words the men didn't understand.

What they did understand though was that suddenly not only could they not move, but they couldn't speak either. Looking at the others they could see that the only one not affected was Meredith. She crossed her arms over her chest and addressed the group. "This is what someone else using their magic on you feels like…a niggling in the back of your head. A faint and constant whisper in your ears. Normals can't feel it or hear it, but we can." Her voice was mildly scolding. She turned to the Sons. "Tyler would feel it if Lil had used magic on him." Then she turned to her cousins. "And Lil would feel it too. All this arguing is going to do is make things end badly. The group of us has far too much power for it not to. We need to stop fighting. Let's find out what happened, and maybe figure out why?"

She waved her hand in the reverse of what she'd previously done and they became mobile again.

"Don't ever do that to me again." Reid hissed angrily.

Mer didn't even blink at his fury. "Don't make me and I won't."

"You Bit.." Reid began, and his eyes turned black.

"Reid, enough!" Caleb snapped. "Meredith is right, even if I didn't like her methods, her words are right. Fighting and suspicions aren't helping, they'll only hurt. If Tyler and Lilith are somehow tied to each other now, then we need to all stick together. It unites us."

Meredith had turned back to the new couple. "What was different? What happened differently that might have caused this?"

Lil shrugged. "I was angry…about those guys in town."

Tyler wasn't any more help. "Dude, I couldn't find any of the other guys, and I was freaking out about the next paper."

Everyone mused silently to themselves. "Oh my Goddess!" Sheridan's eyes widened and she looked at everyone. "I know what happened!"

"Well, what is it?" Reid asked impatiently. He'd calmed down and was feeling more reasonable.

"They were alone."

"So?"

Sheridan rolled her eyes. "Lil, have you and Tyler ever been alone together. Like really alone with none of the rest of us around?"

Lil frowned. "Well, we'd have had to been wouldn't we?"

Tyler was shaking his head. "No, we never have. There are always at least three of us together when we're together; at least three."

"That must be it then. You two finally occupied the same space without any other factors, and whammo, this happened."

"Okay, say you're right. Why them? I mean, would it have happened if it was me and Tyler, or Merry and Reid, or any combination of two of us?" Quin was frowning.

Sheridan was looking thoughtful. "I don't think so. I think it's specific. Of course I don't know that for sure…"

"Here's my question…" Tyler broke in. When he had everyone's attention he continued. "What's it all mean for the rest of you?"


	11. Chapter 11

**11. Discussions**

"What do you mean?" Reid asked as his face paled…it dawned on him what Tyler was getting at and he began shaking his head vigorously. "Oh no, no fucking way. I'm far too young and good looking to be tied to some chick! Especially one of you broads!"

"As if any of us would want to be stuck with you!" Sheridan sniffed in disgust.

"You'd be damned lucky to be stuck with me Baby!" Reid leered, obviously forgetting that he didn't want it that way. "Chicks love it when I give them attention."

"I'm sure the ones who can't string a clear sentence together do." Quin said sweetly. "Or maybe the deaf girls…I bet you're real popular with deaf girls."

"Could we stop with the bickering?" Caleb asked with strained patience. "We don't know that any of this will happen to the rest of us just because it happened to Tyler and Lilith. Perhaps it's just a fluke."

Pogue looked at his best friend, and could see the doubt. "You don't think so though?"

Caleb sighed, but before he could answer Meredith did, "I don't think so. If it matters what I think." She said softly. "Too many coincidences." Merry took a seat on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. Without waiting the rest of the two groups began to arrange themselves on the ground as well, paying no attention to the dirt getting onto their clothing. "Look at it. Our ancestors come from the same place, attended the same schools…our magic, though similar is opposite. Male to female."

"But…I mean, don't get me wrong, yall are all nice looking guys, I've thought so from the first, but I have never looked at any of you that way…not since the first time I felt that whisper of power." Quin's voice held no anger this time.

"Same here." Reid offered, their eyes meeting in a silent truce.

"The closest we've ever been to alone was in Literature class, or the night we found out about each other." Pogue was staring at the ground. "But even then we were surrounded by other students or bar customers. Tyler and Lil were completely alone, does that mean as long as we aren't truly alone we're safe?"

"What if…" Sheridan began hesitantly and then stopped talking. Reid followed her gaze to see her looking at Tyler and Lil in bemusement. The two seemed lost in each other. They were leaning into each other and Tyler was murmuring something into Lil's ear. She wasn't exactly smiling, but there was a peaceful, content look on her normally hyper face.

"What Sheri?" Meredith prompted.

"What if it's supposed to happen, and by thwarting it we cause something bad to happen?" the petite girl murmured.

"When I tried to stop walking towards Tyler it hurt." Lil said plainly.

Tyler looked at the group. "I don't know why you guys are fighting this so much…it's wonderful. It's one of the most amazing things that's ever happened to me."

"That's not saying much Baby Boy." Reid muttered.

"I'm serious Reid. It's like, now I know everything is going to be okay. I can get through anything now. I will get through everything now." Tyler was stressing his words. "I don't even feel the desire to use…"

Caleb's head whipped up. "What?"

"That urge, you know, the urge to use…the addiction. It's not there."

Caleb was looking over at the parking area. "Wait a minute. Tyler where's your car?"

"We teleported here. Together. We pooled our magic and teleported."

"You can do that?" Pogue was incredulous.

Reid was frowning. "You should have aged."

Caleb was almost grim. "Years. He should have aged several years."

All three of the Sons moved over to Tyler and began to study him. "Nothing." Pogue was shaking his head. "Not a damned wrinkly. It's like he didn't even use."

Caleb looked over and met Meredith's navy blue gaze. "Male to female." She whispered. "Our lack of repercussions seems to swallow your consequences. Lilith are you tired?"

"No. I feel fine."

Quin was looking at her dark haired cousin. "She should be practically comatose after teleporting. It's quite the drainer."

Sheridan was smiling. "Does it hurt to be apart?"

Lil and Tyler frowned. "I don't know." The raven haired girl said. "We haven't checked."

"Try it." Caleb urged.

With some reluctance the two moved away from each other and towards their own groups. The two kept moving until there was twenty feet between them. "Well?" Meredith asked.

Tyler shrugged. "Doesn't hurt, or feel uncomfortable. Feels okay."

"I feel okay too." Lil added.

"Well, that's good at least." Quin sighed. "Hopefully that means they don't have to be with each other twenty four hours a day seven days a week."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Pogue asked.

"I'm assuming you mean regarding the other six of us?" Meredith responded.

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "I don't know. It could be anyone with anyone, or no one with no one. It could be a fluke, or maybe it's meant to be and it'll happen no matter what we do."

"Well, I don't think we should force it." Caleb added.

Sheridan nodded. "I agree. No forcing. If it happens, it happens. I don't think we should force it, but neither do I think we should run from it."

"You guys do what you want." Reid snorted. "I'm not hanging out alone with any of you chicks. I gotta get back to campus. I have a date with Jenny Worthing tonight."

Quin rolled her eyes. "Then just go Reid. No one's making you stay."

He smirked once, flipped her off, and headed off for his vehicle.

Meredith watched him go thoughtfully. "What's going on in your head Merry?" Quin murmured.

"Too much." Merry gave the group a half smile. "Too many thoughts to voice."

Thunder clapped in the distance and the wind picked up. "It's gonna storm." Caleb voiced what everyone was thinking. "Let's head back to school."


	12. Chapter 12

**12. Cold Snap**

Lilith rode back with her cousins, but occasionally she would look back at the car carrying Tyler. She would smile and wave, and the girls knew he was reciprocating. Never before had their feisty cousin been so...taken with a boy. As if knowing what they were thinking she looked at each of them in turn. "I wish you could understand what this feels like." she murmured. "It's incredible. Do you remember how much you liked Scott Blanchard Sheridan?" she asked, mentioning a boy from their old high school.

Sheridan nodded a bit bewildered. "Yeah."

"Do you remember how you really liked him, and sometimes it seemed like he liked you too, but then sometimes it was almost as if you weren't sure."

"He was always sending mixed signals." Quin frowned. "I remember one minute he'd be asking her to the mall, and the next he'd be drooling over Becca Donaldson."

Sheridan grimaced at the memory. "Half the time I wasn't even sure I liked him."

Lil was nodding now. "See, I don't feel that at all. I know. I know I like Tyler. I want to be around him. I want to talk to him, and laugh with him. Heck, I know we're gonna fight, and I even look forward to fighting with him."

"Don't you think that's weird Lil?" Meredith broke in. "I mean, up until today, you had barely looked twice at Tyler...no matter how good looking he is."

"I know...and I agree. But it's how I feel now. And I know it's weird. And I know it should freak me out, but it doesn't. Maybe this is just temporary. Maybe we won't always feel this way."

Tyler sighed. "Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be back to the way it was before. But I don't care because right now this kicks ass."

"We just worry Ty." Caleb assured his friend. "It's always been up to the four of us to look out for each other. That doesn't change just because we've ascended."

Tyler smiled at his oldest friend. "I know Caleb. Trust me. I know. And I'm sorry Reid is having such an issue with it. It's too bad really. But I want you all to know, even if I wake up tomorrow normal again, I'm still going to try to get to know Lilith better. She's special...beyond special." Looking up he caught sight of Lil looking back at him and he waved at her. She smiled widely and waved back.

Pogue rolled his eyes at Caleb, "Please tell me we weren't ever this sappy with Kate or Sarah?"

Caleb grinned. "I don't think so." The two boys chuckled as they realized Tyler didn't even hear them as he was too busy looking at the car in front of them. Caleb started as he realized it was the first time they'd said either of their ex girlfriend's names without any type of anger or heartache. Odd.

Meredith sat at her desk studying her notes thoroughly. She just knew they would be having a pop quiz the next day in Accounting. Oh, she didn't know like Quin would know something, but the Professor had all but told them. She hated Accounting, so here she was while Quin and Sheridan were playing Guitar Hero and Lilith was off with lover boy...studying.

An icy breath blew over her skin and Meredith dropped her pencil onto her notebook. Breathing deeply she shut her eyes as the trancelike state overtook her.

Meredith didn't know how long she was out of it but when she came to it was to find Caleb's mother kneeling and wrapping an afghan around Meredith's chilly shoulders. Distress lined the older woman's face. "Are you all right dear?" she asked softly.

Meredith took a deep and calming breath. "I'm fine. Really. Just a little cold."

"What happened?"

The redhead looked into Mrs. Danvers eyes and saw not one ounce of judgment. Here was a woman who understood. What a rare thing. Merry wondered if Caleb knew how blessed he really was. Before she could speak the door to her dorm room burst open revealing Caleb, Pogue, Sheridan, and Quin. "Merry?" Quin sounded anxious.

Merry smiled slightly. "I'm fine. Seriously. Everyone calm down."

"My mom says you were in a coma or something." Caleb looked doubtful at her assurances of being okay. "We got here and you didn't look good so we went to get Quin and Sheri."

Merry addressed her cousins. "It was just a cold spell."

Quin dropped to the bed in dismay. "Oh Goddess no." she murmured.

Sheridan too looked unhappy. "But things were going so well."

"What's a cold spell darling?" Mrs. Danvers asked gently.

Merry turned her attention back to the other three. "I don't know how to explain...I assume Caleb told you about us?" she asked. Mrs. Danvers nodded. "As we told them, until our parents our abilities had never skipped a generation. They skipped our parents. I don't know if they realized two wouldn't live to use them, and the other two were too rotten, or there was just some fluke. The only two children left who didn't inherit are my mother and Lilith's mother. Neither Lilith, nor I are on good terms with our mothers. I'm not on good terms with my father either. Ever since I was extremely little, any time my mother enters into the same vicinity that I'm in, I go into this temporary fugue state. It's not for very long, it's almost like a warning really."

Quin snarled. "It's like she sucks all the warmth and goodness from the world."

"Didn't your mother raise you?" Evelyn Danvers seemed aghast.

Merry smiled wryly. "No. She left me at the hospital and my Grandmother brought me home."

Caleb leaned back in the doorway. "Why would she come here? Didn't you see her at your Grandmother's funeral?"

"She didn't come." Sheridan told him.

"She'll probably want money." Meredith said matter of fact. "That's normally why she shows up. Money. I just pray that she didn't bring Astrid with her."

"Astrid?" Pogue asked.

"Lilith's mom." Sheridan murmured. "Astrid O'Reilly is not a woman that brings out any kind of good in Lilith. It is not a side you want to see."


	13. Chapter 13

Lilith and Tyler left the theater and began walking to where he'd parked the car. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder and it felt as if it had been that way forever. "You know I'm going to be quoting that movie for the next six months." he murmured and kissed her hair right above her ear.

Lilith grinned. "Yeah, me too. We'll have to drag everyone else to it so they know what the hell we're talking about."

"Well, I suppose this town is as small as I keep hearing."

The overly feminine voice came from ahead of them, and Lilith stopped moving forward as she looked towards it in dread. Tyler frowned as he took in the two women standing looking at them. They were both tallish, probably an inch or two taller than Lilith herself. One of the women had ash blonde hair cut in a shoulder length bob, and her body was extremely voluptuous. The other woman was thin and had no curves to speak of. Her hair was deep auburn and cut close to her face framing her angular features. He could see that the women bore some familial resemblances to Lilith, but couldn't tell how they were related.

Lilith's hand had tightened where it was wrapped around his waist, and her fingers dug into his side. Tyler didn't wince as he felt the anxiety radiating off of her. Tyler squeezed her shoulder in reassurance, and she relaxed ever so slightly.

"What are you both doing here?" Lil asked blankly.

The blonde stepped forward. "Is that any way to talk to your mother Lilith. Shouldn't you introduce us to your friend? Give us a hug and a kiss hello? We haven't seen each other in several months."

Lilith's head tilted to the side. "And as far as I'm concerned that could have lasted oh, another twenty or thirty years…"

Tyler's eyes widened slightly.

The blonde's eyes narrowed, and it seemed as if she was going to speak, when the redhead stepped forward. "We aren't here for your petty, childish squabbling Lilith Rose. I wish to speak with Meredith."

"I doubt Mer wants to speak with you." Lil sneered. "You want to talk to her so bad, call her."

"Amusing. As always. I'm quite sure you're aware Meredith has changed her phone number and not provided me with it." The woman snapped.

Tyler felt a building of power and looked sharply at Lilith. She too looked slightly bemused. Not for long though.

"I see no reason or need for you to have my number Lily." Meredith's voice came as she rounded the corner where the cars were parked. Quin, Sheridan, and the other three Sons of Ipswich were with her, as was Evelyn Danvers.

The redhead, Lily Harris, turned to face her daughter. She smiled dryly. "Always surprising how you seem to find me before I can find you." No amount of sarcasm kept the bitterness from her words.

"What can I say? I've always been lucky like that." Meredith looked at the woman who'd given birth to her. "What do you want?"

"To talk."

"We're talking."

"Must you be so cold Meredith?"

Meredith almost laughed. "What can I say? I guess some things are hereditary."

Lily's mouth tightened in anger. "We want to talk to you in private."

"Tyler can hear anything you have to say." Lilith snapped.

Meredith and Quin's eyes met. Quin shrugged. "We really don't care what you want. And we don't have a problem with our friends being there if they want to be there. If they want to leave they sure can."

"Why don't we at least get out of the cold Merry?" Sheridan murmured. "You're already freezing from earlier."

Meredith sighed unhappily. Caleb spoke softly for only her to here. "We don't have to stick around."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter." Her navy eyes met his dark gaze. "It's humiliating that I come from it. But it's just life."

Caleb nodded slowly. How often had he felt that way about his own father? "Why don't we all head to the diner, it's just around the corner there."

The two older women looked angry, but they agreed, and the group made its way to the restaurant.

Caleb was surprised when his mother chose to sit next to Meredith.

"Who are your new friends?" the older blonde woman asked snottily.

It looked as if Quin was going to say something rude when Caleb decided to interrupt. "I'm Caleb Danvers, this is my mother Evelyn. My friends, Pogue, Reid, and Tyler. We're friends with the girls."

"Looks like more than friends the way Lilith was hussying it up." the woman sneered.

Both Tyler and Lilith boiled with rage. Quin leaned forward. "If you can't say something nice about Lil or her boyfriend Astrid, I can arrange it that you don't say anything."

Astrid paled. Reid snickered.

Meredith sighed. "We're wasting our time. What did you want?"

"Please, what do they always want?" Lilith rolled her eyes. "Money. Right?"

Lily straightened her jacket. "Your grandmother left us with very little, we need more."

When the girls only blinked, Astrid spoke. "Lily, Ed and I are going into business, but we need more start up capital."

"And you want your daughters to loan it to you?" Pogue asked incredulously.

Quin snorted. "Please. They don't want a loan, they want it to be given to them free and clear. And the chances of them going into business together is laughable. What's wrong? Not enough for another fix?"

Both of the women looked at Quin with furious eyes. "This is none of your business."

"Bullshit. Anything that deals with Mer, Lil, or our Grandmother's estate is my business. And you're not getting a cent from any of the three. So piss off."

Meredith smiled faintly. "She's right. It's time for you to leave. Go back to wherever you came from and don't come near us again."

Lily Harris stood angrily. "Freaks. That's all you girls are…freaks of nature. Well, we know how to deal with freaks of nature now." She turned on her heel and stormed out of the restaurant.

Astrid O'Reilly laughed and it was an ugly sound. "You don't know how badly you've just fucked up little girls." Without warning her hand lashed out catching Meredith hard across the cheek. Then she too was up and stalking from the restaurant as everyone swarmed to make sure Merry was okay.


	14. Chapter 14

-1Evelyn Danvers had already moved to get ice for Meredith's cheek as the girl's cousins surrounded her. Pogue had gone to the door to make sure the women were actually leaving. The Sons were all frowning.

"I will fucking kill her." Lilith stated through clenched teeth as she looked at the mark on Meredith's face that was already turning red. There was a slash of a welt where Astrid's nail must have caught at the skin. "I'm so sorry Mer."

Meredith looked at her cousin. Lil felt guilty for her mother's actions. "Don't be retarded. You can't control her. Half the time I don't even think we come from the same genes."

"Wouldn't that be nice." Quin muttered.

Evelyn had taken her seat again and was mothering the girl. Both Meredith and Caleb looked at her with questions in their eyes. "I never even asked why you came to my dorm…" the redhead addressed the older woman.

Evelyn looked at her. "I was at home getting ready to contact the accountant about our monthly bills, and I just suddenly knew I needed to go to the school and see you. I don't know why."

"Are you feeling okay Mom?" Caleb asked; for a moment he was frightened she'd begun drinking again. That he knew of she hadn't had anything alcoholic since Meredith had purified her.

"Yes, Caleb, I'm fine. I haven't been drinking. I promise you." she reached over and squeezed his hand. "I just suddenly thought Meredith needed me. And now I'm glad I came. I know those were your mothers, but they were horrible. And they aren't going to just go away."

"As if we could ever be that lucky." Sheridan snorted.

"Just remember girls, they know your secrets." Evelyn was intense. "And that woman, Lily, when she threatened you, she made it seem very real."

"They can't reveal our secrets. Not to anyone who doesn't know what we are." Quin sighed. When the Sons and Mrs. Danvers looked at her questioningly she explained. "Our Grandmother put a geas on them…because they didn't have the abilities, and because she figured out pretty damned early they weren't exactly sweethearts, there was a geas put on the four children born without gifts. They can never reveal any of the secrets of the descendants of Bridget Bishop. Sure they can call us freaks, but they couldn't ever explain to anyone why they think we're freaks."

"Still, we should keep an eye on them."

"Trust me, we will." Fury still poured out of Lilith. She was pacing back and forth, and it didn't look like Tyler knew how to help her.

"Were all of your mothers the same?" Evelyn asked hesitantly.

Sheridan responded. "Quin's Mama and Daddy died right after she was born. My Mama died when I was two, but she was sick before I was born. I don't remember a lot, but I remember she was always real frail and didn't play with me much. My Daddy was always gone working. I lived with Grandmother, and my Daddy died when I was five. I never really knew him well."

"Where was your father Meredith?" Caleb asked. "I mean, your mom is here, so where's your dad?"

"My father wouldn't ever demean himself to beg for money." she said matter of fact. "He thinks he's better than everyone else. Thought he hit the jackpot when he married one of the DuVeaux girls…didn't realize that Grandmother had control of the money. He thought it was all in trusts for the girls since Grandfather had passed on."

"Lovely stories, huh?" Lilith sneered. "The bitch and the man who married her for her money; the tramp and the man she killed; the terminally ill with the negligent husband; and the couple who were risk takers and finally took one risk too many. Our parents…aren't we proud."

"Can't you heal yourself?" Reid asked abruptly. He'd been surprisingly silent for most of the exchange.

Mer looked down. "No. It doesn't work on me. I can only help others." She touched the bruise on her cheek and flinched slightly. "I'm extremely tired. Dealing with her, any of them, really takes it out of me. I think I'd like to head back to school now."

Some of the others had already ordered food. Caleb smiled at her. "I'll take you back. I have to drop Mom off on the way, and grab my book bag from your dorm anyway." Something in his voice said he had something to talk to her about so she nodded.

It was a quiet drive back to the Danvers Mansion, and Evelyn hugged Meredith quickly before giving Caleb a kiss on the cheek and heading inside. Finally, the two were on their way back to school.

"Say what's on your mind." Meredith told him quietly.

"Why is my mom being drawn to you?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know." she shrugged. "I think it's really odd. It's never happened before."

"Have you purified before?" He'd pulled up in front of the school and stopped the car.

"Yes. Several times, and this has never happened. I swear to you Caleb." She said and placed her hand on his arm. She could only hope he believed her.

Suddenly it almost felt as if all of the air in the vehicle was sucked out in a rush and then pushed back into the car. Meredith felt her body moving forward and could see Caleb moving towards her as well. It felt as thought a silver cord connected their bodies from their sternums. "Oh my Goddess." she whispered right before his hand came up to clasp the side of her head and his lips descended.

Caleb felt as if he was on fire for a flash of a moment and then all pain was gone and it was replaced by the most amazing pleasure and happiness. Not even with Sarah, whom he thought he'd truly loved, had he felt anywhere near this. Their lips were fused and when they did finally pull apart, neither could breathe properly. "I didn't even think about this possibility." he murmured as he rubbed a finger down her uninjured cheek…wait a minute, neither of her cheeks were injured any longer. "Your cheek…it's healed."

Meredith's hand raised touched. "I…" she didn't say another word as he moved in for another kiss and she met him halfway.


	15. Chapter 15

"Is that Caleb's car?" Sheridan asked as the group headed into the front of the school.

Pogue frowned. "Yeah. I wonder what he's still doing here…hope everything's okay."

"I hope Lily or Astrid didn't make an appearance." Lilith muttered as she quickened her step heading directly for Quin and Meredith's room.

The others hurried to keep up. "And they say I have a hot head." Reid just shook his head.

"Lil baby, maybe…" Tyler didn't get to finish his sentence as Lil threw open the door to reveal Caleb and Meredith in a deep kiss with their arms wrapped around each other. "Yeah, that's what I was gonna say." He finished lamely.

The two pulled apart and Meredith had the grace to blush. Caleb looked at his friends. "Guess what."

"Oh good grief." Reid moaned. He entered the room and threw himself onto Quin's bed. "Weren't you thinking? Obviously not! Not you too Caleb?"

"Reid, this is amazing. I wouldn't change it." Caleb told the other boy softly.

Reid glared at Sheridan and Quin. "Don't be getting any ideas."

Quin rolled her eyes and Sheridan snorted. "As if."

"Pogue, it's just you and me now man. We have to look out for each other."

"What exactly happened?" Pogue asked curiously as he too took a seat. The others made themselves as comfortable as possible.

Caleb and Meredith didn't seem to feel the need to touch each other as often as Lil and Tyler did, but they did look to each other frequently, almost as if to reassure themselves that the other was still there. "We had dropped off my mom and were talking. Everything was normal. We'd pulled up in front of the school and were still talking. Then Mer put her hand on my arm and boom. It was like we were connected. Like it was meant to be that way."

"It healed my cheek." Meredith murmured.

Lil looked closer and smiled. "That's awesome."

"What about Sarah?" Reid asked.

Meredith looked quizzical. "Who's Sarah?"

Caleb answered. "Sarah was my girlfriend last year, when everything with Chase happened. She knew what we were. One of the very few who did. She broke up with me about a month before school started because she couldn't handle what I am. It broke my heart."

Mer nodded. "That makes sense. There was such an aura of sadness and loss around you and Pogue when we first met."

"That's because my girlfriend Kate, who I'd been dating for three years chose to dump me at the same time." Pogue explained. "Not great for the pride."

Caleb turned his attention to Reid. "I don't know what this is Reid, but it's completely different than what I felt for Sarah, yet in some ways it's similar. I can tell you this. What I felt for Sarah doesn't hold a candle to what I'm feeling right now."

"Reid, you have to remember, we don't know how long this will last. It could just be a temporary thing." Meredith reminded the blonde gently. His eyes were growing wider and wider. Obviously someone didn't like the thought of committing.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard all the bullshit before." Reid sneered. "Now that we know everyone's okay, I'm out of here."

There was silence in the room for a moment as Quin and Sheridan looked at each other. Sheridan spoke first. "There's no guarantee one of us will end up with him."

"Thank the Goddess for that." Quin agreed.

"I say we stick to the buddy system." Sheridan suggested. "If we're never alone with him, it can't happen."

Pogue started snickering. "I've never seen girls try harder not to date Reid."

"It also means if one of them is supposed to end up with you, they won't." Caleb told his friend.

Pogue just shook his head, "I was with Kate for three years. I'm not ready for another relationship yet, no matter how pretty, or nice these girls are." He said gallantly.

"That's sweet Pogue." Sheridan smiled at him.

"It is." Quin agreed. "You're a good guy, but we're not chomping at the bit for a boyfriend either." She looked over at Meredith and Caleb. "You got ten minutes to say goodbye, then I'm coming in and going to bed."

Lil and Tyler stood. "That's our cue to say our goodnights too."

Pogue grabbed his helmet and gave a wave before heading out.

Sheridan and Quin just shook their head as they realized Meredith and Caleb were already kissing again before they'd even left the room.

It was Friday night and the group was at Nicky's again. The place was packed, but they'd managed to score a large enough table for their group. Lil and Sheridan were out on the dance floor while Reid, Tyler, and Caleb played some pool. Pogue was flirting with the waitress, and Quin and Meredith were at the table talking about some of the classes they didn't share.

"Haven't seen you here in a while." Jacob Mather's voice seemed almost petulant as he slipped into the chair next to Meredith. His brother Adam, and another man, this one seeming slightly younger than Adam, but older than Jacob, lounged against the table looking at both girls quietly.

"Jacob. It has been a while, hasn't it? How have you been?" Meredith asked politely.

He shrugged. "Okay I guess. School sucks. Already sick of it. You know my brother Adam; this is my other brother, Daniel."

Meredith nodded to both boys. "This is my cousin Quin."

Adam smiled charmingly. "How many cousins you got?"

"Three actually. The other two are out dancing. You met Lilith at the music store."

He nodded slowly. "So four of you. Sort of like the Sons of Ipswich."

"Being that there are four of us and four of them, I suppose so."

"Ain't you guys all friends too?"

"Sure are." Quin broke in leaning in. This Adam guy was starting to annoy her.

Daniel Mather grimaced. "Dangerous friends you got."

"Don't see how. I've never felt threatened." Quin smiled.

"People just always seem to end up getting hurt around them."

"Well, so far we've been just peachy…so don't worry. We know how to take care of ourselves."

It looked like they were about to say something else when the two older brothers attention was drawn to the door. "Well hello there." Adam Mather murmured.

The girls turned to look only to see Astrid and Lily enter the bar. "Well fuck." Quin muttered.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hope you guys don't mind. I'm going to start incorporating some of the swimming back into the story since I've sort of been neglecting that. I'm also going to add something for the girls that I hadn't had in there before. I apologize, but I just wanted something a little extra, so I'm going to make them runners eventually. You know, like track. Hope you'll forgive me. Also, the ritual I use towards the bottom was written by Doreen Valiente and Gerald Gardner. No plagiarism here. And some of the prosey stuff at the bottom...not so good, but I tried.**

It was almost comical how both Astrid and Lily's gazes flew to Quin, Meredith, and the Mather brothers. "So much for a short visit." Meredith murmured.

"We couldn't get so lucky." Quin sneered.

The two older women sashayed over to the table with smug smiles. "Why, Meredith...Quin...what a surprise. We didn't expect to see you girls quite so soon again." Lily Harris said prettily.

"I don't see why not." Quin said dryly. Ipswich is a small town, and obviously you plan on staying for a while."

Meredith turned until her body faced her mother's. "Aren't you sick of it yet? Wouldn't you rather be out, living it up in a big city?"

Astrid looked angry, but Lily just kept a pleasant face. "Not at all. Why would I want to be in a big city. I think it's time you and I spent more time together. More time getting to know each other. I don't know you as well as I should, and you obviously don't know me. It isn't right for our relationship to have floundered for so long."

"Floundered?" Meredith's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Who are these lovely ladies?" Adam Mather asked breaking into the conversation.

Meredith was speechless, so Lily turned her attention to the younger man. "Well hello there. I'm Lily Harris, and you are?"

"Adam Mather, and these are my brothers; Jacob, and Daniel." A gleam of interest had entered his eye as he shook first Lily's hand, and then Astrid's. His eyes fell to rest on Astrid's ample chest.

"It's a pleasure Adam. This is my sister Astrid."

"Oh, the pleasure is all ours." he assured her. "So are you ladies older siblings, more cousins?"

Meredith finally regained her voice and stood, making her chair scrape the ground as it pushed out from under her. "No they aren't our sisters or cousins. Lily is my mother." she snapped and turned hard eyes on said woman. "Floundered? Floundered is when two people fall out of touch. You abandoned me when I was a day old so that you could go on holiday. For our relationship to have floundered Lily, we would have had to have a relationship to begin with." Meredith pulled her jacket on and stepped away from the table. When she spoke again her normally calm voice trembled with rage. "Stay away from me Lily. You, Astrid, Ed; all of you, stay away from me and mine, or you will not like the outcome."

Meredith had almost made it to the end of the parking lot when the door to the bar opened and Jacob Mather came running out. "Hey wait up!" He called out.

Mer sighed and stopped. "Jacob, look I'm sorry for causing a scene in front of your family, but my mother and I don't get along. Just go back inside."

"No, dude, I get it. I won't talk about it. But you can't just walk home. I'll take you."

"It's fine. I'm fine. I'll get home fine." she insisted.

"It isn't safe out here Meredith." he told her. "You never know who could be out here." His voice had softened, and in that moment Meredith felt a chill of fear as she looked at the boy.

'Not safe' whispered through every cell in her body. "I'm sure my cousins will be out in a minute." she told him and took a step back.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Quin headed to the pool tables. Let me drive you home."

'Not SAFE' the whisper became more frantic. "Really..."

The door to the bar opened again and this time the Sons and her cousins exited. Caleb looked worried. He moved to her quickly and wrapped his arm around her shivering shoulder. "You okay?" he asked completely disregarding Jacob.

Meredith hadn't taken her attention away though. She saw the hate flutter through the blonde man's eyes. She saw the way his gaze took in Caleb's intimate gesture. "Guess you do have it taken care of." he said mockingly. Then he turned and headed back into the bar.

"Trouble's coming." Meredith whispered.

"Trouble's here. They're sitting in the bar drinking with the Mather dicks." Lil swore.

Meredith shook her head. "No. Worse. It's time for a circle."

They chose the Putnam barn to hold their ritual. The Sons wouldn't take part, but they wanted to be present. One reason was in case the girls needed them, but another was because they'd never seen it done. Caleb had also arranged it that all of the group would be going back to the Danvers mansion to spend the night once the circle was done.

All four girls wore simple linen shifts that fell to just above their knees. Reid had been expecting white, but instead they wore color. Meredith wore a deep turqoise, Lilith a burnt orange, Sheridan wore a rich brown, and Quin wore a pale blue. He supposed the colors represented the elements of the towers. Currently Quin and Lilith were placing candles around the barn in a circle. Meredith was setting up an altar, and Sheridan was pouring salt around every entrance to the barn.

"What do the colors mean?" he asked before he thought better of it.

For once Quin didn't look at him like he was an idiot. "White is for purity, sincerity, and truth. The red, while it can stand for many things, in this instance will stand for health and strength. The light blue also stands for health, and it stands for understanding and patience; tranquility."

"I would have thought red was for love." he frowned.

Quin nodded. "Common misconception I think. It can stand for sexual love, but for real love it would be pink. You could use gold, yellow, or orange for attraction."

"Ready." Sheridan spoke softly as she approached. Quin nodded to her and they walked to the other two girls. The Sons moved away and watched silently.

Meredith began walking in a clockwise circle from the altar, stopping only briefly to kiss each cousin on the cheek where they stood. "_Darksome night, and shining moon, East, then South, then West, then North; Hearken to the Witches Rune- Here we come to call ye forth! Earth and water, air and fire; wand and pentacle and sword, work ye unto our desire; Hearken ye unto our word! Cords and censer, scourge and knife, Powers of the witches blade- Waken all ye into life!_" Her voice rose with the chant and as if they were one all of the girls arms rose in the air. All of the candles burst into flame startling all four men. "Tower of the East protect and watch over us, make us strong; Tower of the South, purify and burn the sin from our bodies; Tower of the West breathe life into our frail bodies and carry us on your winds, Tower of the North, wash the pain and confusion from our bodies and minds. Mother Earth, Father Time; Goddess and Consort, we come asking for guidance. We come to pay homage and make sacrifice to you who have loved and cared for us." Meredith's voice rang clear and true.

It was almost as if their circle was visible to the naked eye. A wind blew within and their hair blew wildly. Quin stepped forward and even from a distance all could see that her eyes had changed into shining white orbs. When she spoke her voice had an echoey, sing-song quality to it, she spoke very slowly "Much pain to come in the form of blood; those that would crush our children form an alliance. Much hardship to endure; not easy the trials ahead to defeat. Old magic must be called; magicks older than even time. Our children fight more than their enemies; the old magicks cannot be won until the most intimate of this fight is lost." Quin's head dropped forward.

Lilith stepped forward and threw her head back. When she spoke her voice boomed, "The oldest prophecy has come to pass. But time runs out like sands in the glass. Four by four does four make, yet with one denial all could break. Many tests will be faced by these children of the Gods; four by four can defeat the odds."

Lilith dropped to the ground and the wind quieted. The girls quickly, and efficiently closed the ritual and packed away their items. Tyler approached Lil almost hesitantly. She looked up at him with a tired smile. "Hey."

"Are you alright?"

"Exhausted."

"Has that ever happened before?" He asked. The rest of the Sons had joined them.

Lil snuggled into his warm arms. Meredith ran her hand down first Lil's hair, then Quin's. Quin looked equally exhausted. Mer spoke. "It's happened a few times for both of them, but I can honestly say never in the same night."

"What was that?" Pogue asked softly.

"Premonitions." Quin answered. "Mine was future. Lil's was past. Which means that somewhere there is a premonition just waiting for us to find it."

"I wrote everything down." Caleb told them. "Everything you said, and then everything Lil said."

"That was good thinking Caleb." Sheridan smiled. "Normally we tape, but I didn't even think about it with everything that's been going on the past few days."

He shrugged. "Just thought it seemed like the thing to do. We should all head back to my house. It's late, and everyone is tired."


	17. Chapter 17

"Do you think any of the premonition has to do with us all meeting, and some of you starting to hook up?" Pogue asked. The eight were sitting in the family room of the Danvers Mansion. 

"It would almost make sense." Meredith murmured. "Four by four...four of you, four of us. But I don't get the 'does four make'."

"Four couples." Sheridan sighed. "Four by four does four make. If we all end up paired up there will be four pairs." 

"Fuck." Reid let his head drop to the couch. 

"With one denial all could break...that sounds as if it means if any of us fight this thing bad shit could happen?" Quin seemed pained. 

"It could break, could break, not necessarily will break...right?" Reid looked around and his expression was almost pathetic. 

Sheridan rolled her eyes. "Let's just take it as a given shall we? If we deny and try to find a way around this thing, all hell's gonna break loose." 

"Better yet, All hell's going to break loose, and this thing tying us all together is what is gonna defeat the bad." Caleb added. Sheridan nodded in acknowledgment. 

"Okay..." Lilith spoke slowly. "So, let's take the whole prophecy that we learned. 'The oldest prophecy has come to pass'..so somewhere there's a prophecy linking the eight of us... let me amend that, we assume the eight of us." she added when Reid and Quin looked as if they would interrupt. 'But time runs out like sands in the glass.'.."

"That would lead me to think that we all have to have hooked up by a certain date." Tyler pulled Lil in closer to him. She was still trembling slightly, and seemed completely worn out. "Next was the four by four thing and the denial thing." 

"Yep, and then, 'Many tests will be faced by these children of the Gods'..." Sheridan chimed in. "So we're going to be tested. Plural, so I take that as a lot. Then the defeat the odds thing, which means if we're good little children, and get all hooked up by the right date we can defeat whatever tests are thrown at us. Otherwise we're what? Shit out of luck?" 

"It certainly does sound ominous..." Pogue muttered. 

"We don't even know if this prophecy exists!" Reid blurted out. When Quin's angry eyes turned on him he stuck up his hands in defense. "I'm not saying she made it up. Not at all. What I'm saying is what if they're fucking with us? What if whomever, or whatever, gives you these vision things is fucking with us all?" 

They all looked at each other quietly. "Has that ever happened before?" Caleb asked Meredith.

Meredith sighed. "No. I can honestly say that any time either has had a vision they've come to pass, or we've found the prophecy or evidence of the past occurrences. We've never had one faulty vision." 

"Let's just put aside the couple shit for a few minutes." Sheridan spoke while rubbing her forehead. "Right now that's the least of my concerns...Let's look at Quin's vision...the vision that's to come." 

"Yeah, that one sucked...no offense." Pogue nodded and threw a nod in Quin's direction. 

"Fuck I have no control over it, no offense taken. From what Caleb wrote down it did suck." she agreed with him. 

Caleb read the premonition. "Much pain to come in the form of blood; those that would crush our children form an alliance. Much hardship to endure; not easy the trials ahead to defeat. Old magic must be called; magicks older than even time. Our children fight more than their enemies; the old magicks cannot be won until the most intimate of this fight is lost." 

"I saw enough blood last year with Chase." Pogue murmured as he remembered his bike accident. 

"What if..." Caleb began. "What if it's not talking about blood, like the blood in your veins; what if it's talking about blood as in family, or relatives?" 

"Like our mothers?" Meredith saw where he was going and began to nod. "That would make sense wouldn't it? Pain to come in the form of blood, and it makes the second part make sense about alliances. Our mothers seemed quite cozy with the witch hunters when we were leaving the bar." The others murmured in agreement as they realized this did in fact make sense. 

"Then we get back into the whole trials, or tests we have to defeat. I don't know what they mean by old magicks though..."Lil rested her head in the crook of Tyler's neck. "Grandmother never spoke of old magicks." 

"Maybe we could find something in the books she kept in her library?" Sheridan offered as a suggestion. 

"That's not a bad idea Sher. It means we'll have to take a road trip." Meredith had already begun planning in her head. 

"We could take my mom's van." Pogue offered. "It's not my normal style, but it's a nice one. We could all fit comfortably." 

"The last line is Our children fight more than their enemies; the old magicks cannot be won until the most intimate of this fight is lost...I think we all know what that line means..." Quin's voice was blunt and broke into the excitement of planning a road trip. 

"It always comes back to pairing up doesn't it?" Reid complained. "Fuck." 

�


	18. Chapter 18

It was Thursday and classes were over until the following Tuesday in observance of Columbus Day. The eight met at Pogue's Mom's van and looked at each other for only moments before piling in and getting as comfortable as possible. Pogue had been right, the van was huge and did seat them all comfortably. There was even a back area behind the last row of seats for storage. 

"Where were you last class?" Caleb asked frowning at his best friend. 

Pogue, busy navigating out of the parking lot, grinned. "I stopped and got supplies." He motioned to the back cargo area. 

Sheridan, who was sitting in the very back row with Lil and Tyler, poked her head over the side and laughed. "You rock Pogue. You completely, and utterly, rock!" 

Meredith, Quin, and Reid were in the second row, and Quin turned her head to look at her petite cousin. "What's back there Sher?" 

"There's a cooler, and it's filled with drinks, and there are some bags of snacks." The smaller girl laughed. "Oh, Quin, there are Corn Nuts!" 

"You do rock Pogue!" The blonde enthused. 

"Hey, the Corn Nuts are mine!" He frowned slightly. 

"Yeah, well, maybe in the beginning, but now you're sharing." Quin told him bluntly. 

"Why does your mom have such a big van Pogue?' Meredith asked hoping to change the subject. 

Pogue, still scowling slightly, looked in the rearview mirror at the redhead. "She volunteers at a children's center, so she loads up the little beasts in the van to take them on field trips." 

"I remember we went on one of those trips to help her once." Tyler called out from the back with a grin. "Those kids were demons…that one little boy kept kicking Caleb." 

"Dude, that wasn't funny." Caleb was shaking his head. "That kid had serious issues. I had huge bruises all over my fucking shins." 

Pogue tried not to laugh as he pulled onto the interstate. "I hope you guys are ready for the road trip from Hell. This is gonna be a nice eighteen hour drive according to the map." 

Reid groaned. "What are we gonna do for eighteen hours?" 

"We could play twenty questions?" Sheridan offered brightly eliciting groans from everyone in the van.

"Maybe we should exit soon and grab a bite to eat and fill up the tank?" Caleb murmured to Pogue. They'd been traveling for six hours with only a short restroom break, and while no one had complained he knew they could all use the break to stretch their legs. 

The first two hours of the trip had been spent playing twenty questions at Sheridan's request, and they'd had more fun than he'd thought they would. Even Reid had gotten into the game in the end. After that people had either chosen to nap, listen to their Ipods, or just converse quietly with each other. Caleb had looked back earlier to find Meredith studying something for one of her classes, and he couldn't help but smile at the studious picture she made. It was still such a surprise to him, these feelings that he'd found for her. He didn't care if it was magic, prophecy, fate, or whatever, all he knew was that it felt amazing. He even felt a confidence that he hadn't had with Sarah. With Meredith he knew she understood him. She knew because she shared the same gifts…well, very similar gifts. She wouldn't walk away from him because she couldn't handle it. 

"Good call." Pogue responded. "I need a break from driving." 

"After we eat I'll drive for awhile." Reid offered, leaning forward in his seat to join the conversation. 

"I could drive too." Caleb shrugged. 

Pogue nodded. "Thanks guys. I'll let one of you take over." Pogue looked for an exit advertising food establishments and finally found one in the form of a truck stop. 

After filling up with gas the group made their way inside and the girls waited while the boys pushed a few tables together. Reid smiled charmingly at a frowning waitress. "We'll put them back the way they were; promise." Finally the woman smiled and shrugged, handing out menus to the young adults. 

Quin snickered. "Why can't you be charming like that all of the time Reid?" 

"I am charming all of the time…just not to you." he smirked. 

"Kids…" Caleb sighed. 

The group sat down with the girls on one end and the boys on the other, and began perusing their menus. It didn't take long for a waitress to make her way over and take their orders. 

Tyler leaned in frowning and spoke quietly to Caleb. "Why are all those guys looking at us?" 

The other guys all looked to what he was pointing out. The truckers and other travelers in the restaurant, all men, were staring at their table almost awestruck. Caleb was baffled. Pogue looked from the men and back to the table. "They're looking at the girls Dude. They can't stop looking at the girls." he whispered. 

It was true. It was almost as if the men had focused in on the four cousins and weren't looking away. "Mer?" Caleb asked the girl sitting next to him. 

She turned to him with a smile, "Hmm?" 

"Do you normally have this reaction when you go out to eat?" he asked motioning to the other diners with his eyes. 

Meredith looked around and her eyes widened. "No. I mean, people normally pay attention to us, but…not like this." 

One of the truckers had obviously worked up his nerve and he approached the table. "How you girls doing tonight?" he asked in a heavy southern accent, completely ignoring the Sons. 

Sheridan smiled politely. "We're fine thank you. And yourself?" 

"Well I'm doing fine Sugar. Ya know, you ladies make sure you're being careful out there. Traveling these roads at night is mighty dangerous." 

"Well thank you for your concern, but we can take care of ourselves." Quin responded before Sheridan could. "Also, we're really not traveling alone seeing as our boyfriends are with us." Quin was glad when Reid didn't stand up and shout 'I'm not with these girls'. The boy was a dunderhead and she could see him doing something like that. 

The man snorted. "These boys your boyfriends? Not much protection if ya ask me…yall sure are pretty little things." 

Another man, this one larger than the first trucker, had stood and made his way over. "You over here making friends with these gorgeous girls Mikey?" 

"Sure am Will. Sure am." 

The waitress brought out their food and maneuvered around the two men standing near the girls. "Mike, Will, let these kids eat." she snapped. The two men looked pissed, but wandered off. She leaned closer as she set the food in front of Meredith. "You kids be careful. Those boys, and their friends, ain't anyone to mess with around here." 

"Thank you." Meredith said with a small smile. The two men had gone back to a table with five more guys at it. They looked rough. Meredith looked at her group. "Let's eat and get the hell out of here." Even without the warning from the waitress she could'veseen thatthe men were trouble…not only were they trouble, but they were looking for trouble. And Meredith didn't understand why all of the men in the restaurant were staring at her and her cousins the way they were. It was just weird. 

The group ate, more quietly than they'd started out, and after quick restroom breaks they paid and headed out of the restaurant. It was halfway to the van that a voice called out. "Where you all rushing off to?" 

Caleb looked back to find Mikey, Will, and their friends had followed them out of the truck stop. "Gotta get back on the road." he told them firmly. 

"We weren't talking to you boy." One man told him snidely. 

"Well, that's too bad seeing as I was talking to you." Caleb responded. 

All four of the Sons had stopped and turned to face the men. The girls were between the van and their friends. "Go get in the car Baby." Tyler told Lil. 

"I don't think so." Lil said taking a comfortable stance with her hands in her pockets. Quin was on one side of her, then Sheridan, and Meredith. All of the girls looked at the trouble causing men with contempt. "You boys got a problem?" She asked the men. 

Mikey looked at Caleb and sneered. "Nope, no problem. This little boy just needs to watch his mouth and stay out of my way. Especially when I'm trying to get to know a lady." He looked directly at Meredith and leered. 

Meredith shook her head in both amusement and disgust. "This lady doesn't want to get to know you…Mikey was it? Mikey, I would suggest to you, that you and your friends go back inside the truck stop before you get more than you bargained for." 

Mikey looked at her in disbelief and then at his friends. Then he began to laugh loudly. "Did you hear that boys? We're gonna get something more than we 'bargained' for…" he made the words sound dirty. "Baby, you can give me anything you want…" 

Caleb had turned to look at Meredith, and his eyes had gone pure black. Meredith reached out and ran a hand down his arm calmingly. He instantly felt the anger melting away. "We can handle this…trust me?" she whispered. As hard as it was to do he nodded. "Quin?" 

Quin grinned. "Oh I love to play." She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "I'm sick of your mouths." 

It looked like Mikey was going to say something but suddenly couldn't. He looked at his friends as panic began to set in and they too were grabbing their throats. Mikey made to step forward and now Meredith muttered the words the Sons had heard once before. The men froze in place. 

"Oh no, you wanted to get to know us. Now you get to know us, so stay right there." she told the men lightly. 

Reid was grinning. "It's much cooler when it's happening to someone else." 

Lil had walked over to the men. "Well, you're just lucky we don't hurt people…not too much at least." She clapped her hands together and all of the men's eyes widened and they began to fidget in place as much as their bodies could move without going anywhere. 

Sheridan didn't move closer just stared at them. "The next time you go to harass a woman you're going to remember this. You won't remember any of us…just the humiliation you feel right now. The fear of knowing we could do anything to you and you're powerless to stop it. Our faces, their faces, the van, it's all wiped from your memory." She blew out a breath of air slowly as if she was blowing a batch of smoke away from her. Then she turned and made her way to the van. "Shall we go?" 

The rest of the group headed to the van, and the Sons turned back once to look at the group of men. A vacant look had come into their eyes. Reid took over driving, and as he left the parking area he looked back to see the men starting to move; they were scratching their crotches viciouslyas if someone had dropped ants in their pants. Reid looked at Lil who was smug. "Please don't ever do that to me."


	19. Chapter 19

"Um, Babe…" Tyler began, "What exactly did you do to those guys

"Um, Babe…" Tyler began, "What exactly did you do to those guys?" Currently, Reid was the only one not looking at the four girls.

"Well, Quin took their speech, Mer took their movement, Sheridan took their memory, so I took their comfort." She told him with a shrug.

"But what did you do?" he asked emphasizing the 'do'.

"Oh…I made them itch…a lot." She grinned. "It'll wear off in about twenty minutes."

"I'm with Reid; please never do that to me." Pogue stated with a wince. The other boys nodded.

"They'll be fine." She snickered. "And hopefully it'll teach them not to mess with people minding their own business. Besides, I wouldn't do that to you guys…I mean, you'd have to seriously piss me off. And it's not as if you couldn't exact revenge on me."

Sheridan laughed from where she sat in the passenger side of the front seat. Reid noticed her and looked startled as if he hadn't realized she was sitting there. "Should you be sitting up front?" He asked with a frown.

"Why not?" she frowned right back.

"Because of the whole hinky couple thing." He told her with a look that told her she should have known that.

Sheridan rolled her eyes. "Dude, you are so lame. Hello! The van is full of people. Whenever it's happened everyone's been alone together? Do you really think we'd be considered alone…Duh."

"Oh…yeah…guess I didn't think of that." He muttered.

"Good grief, just stop worrying about it. I seriously doubt you're going to find yourself alone with Quin or myself...not if any of us can help it." She shook her head in disgust. "I swear I've never met anyone so concerned with finding themselves in a relationship."

"Relationships don't work." He told her bluntly. "People stay together for a little while and then one of them takes off leaving the others behind."

Sheridan didn't comment on Reid's use of the word others. She was pretty sure it had been a slip of the tongue, and that with her natural abilities to read people's emotions, and Reid was giving off strong emotions, made her wonder about Reid's family life. "Sometimes that's true." Sheridan conceded. "I mean my Dad was a perfect example of that…heck, all of our parents were prime examples. But it's not always the case. My Grandmother and Grandfather stayed together until he passed away. They spent thirty six years together. And Millicent and her husband have been together for forty three years."

"It's not the norm." he muttered.

The van was quiet. Lil, Tyler, and Quin had managed to fall asleep in the very back of the vehicle, and Pogue was asleep in the seat next to Caleb and Meredith. Sheridan was talking to Reid about some project they had coming up in one of the classes, and though he didn't want to think of school at least it was keeping him awake.

"Thanks for letting me handle that situation." Meredith said softly to the dark haired man next to her.

"I would have taken care of it for you." He murmured. "Sometimes it's hard to remember you girls can do just as much as we can."

"I know…it's hard getting used to your abilities too. But somehow I don't think you guys would have used your powers to take care of that situation." She quirked an auburn eyebrow at him.

"I admit it; I wanted to beat the hell out of that guy. Just for the way he was looking at you."

"That whole thing was weird. I mean, we've always gotten looks when we go places…guys are easy and we're pretty enough I suppose, but it's never been as intense as that was."

"First off, you're beautiful, so I can understand any guy looking twice, but that was like they couldn't look away." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We'll have to keep an eye on that whenever we stop…see if it keeps happening."

Meredith frowned and remembered something. "Ya know, the other night when my mother showed up at the bar, and I walked out…Jacob followed me out and he was like that…so intense…so focused on me going with him. I just thought about it, but those guys reminded me of that focus. Caleb, what if this whole thing…us being drawn into relationships is causing other things to happen?"

Caleb began to nod slowly. "That's a good question. We'll have to talk about that the next time we stop. See what the others think. Right now we should try to get some sleep. I'm taking the next driving shift from Reid."

The group finally pulled into the drive of the DuVeaux plantation shortly after noon on Friday. They'd made several more stops to eat, and had discussed Meredith and Caleb's disturbing idea regarding the increased attention the girls were getting. It was hard to accept, but it was also hard to dismiss the possibility that they were right. At the two other restaurants they'd stopped at they'd seen the evidence first hand. It hadn't had any type of potential violent impact the way it had at the truck stop, but the attention had definitely been there. Except this time it hadn't just been male attention but the men were getting female attention as well.

Everyone piled out of the van and began to stretch. It was cloudy, but hadn't begun to rain yet. The group grabbed their bags, and the guys grabbed the cooler and munchies and they all made their way up to the front porch. The door opened before they got there and an elderly woman moved quickly onto the porch scooping the first girl in line, who happened to be Quin, up into a hug. "My baby girls are back!" She cried happily in a thick southern accent.

"Miss Millicent." The girls were all reaching out to hug and kiss the woman.

Finally the hugs were done and all the girls were smiling radiantly. "Miss Millicent, these are our new friends." Meredith began. "Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Reid Garwin, and Tyler Simms."

Millicent's eyes widened. "My goodness. The Sons of Ipswich."

Everyone looked startled. "You know us?" Pogue finally spoke.

"You know them?" Quin asked at the same time.

Millicent laughed lightly. "Oh darlin'…your Grandmama Selena talked about the Sons quite a bit. I've been waiting for this day for a long time."


	20. Chapter 20

Instead of telling them what she knew right away, Millicent made everyone get into the house and went about getting the Sons into rooms she'd fixed up for them. When it looked like Lil would push the point Millicent had just clicked her tongue at them and said "All in good time baby girl." Then she'd left them to go work on dinner.

Meredith found her three cousins out on the back patio watching as the sun set. "Still no rain."

"Oh, it's coming." Quin murmured as the wind blew her short hair. "It's just taking its sweet time getting here."

"Grandmother knew about the Sons of Ipswich." Sheridan made the statement. "But she never mentioned them to us, Why? Why wouldn't she let us know about others similar to us? Why wouldn't she tell us there was a prophecy intertwining us?"

Lil stretched her legs out onto the chair in front of her. "Grandmother always had her reasons for keeping stuff like that to herself. Maybe she thought it would scare us."

"Maybe she thought we'd try to avoid it?" Quin offered. "I mean, look at what it's doing to us right now…"

"We'll talk to Millicent tonight, and go to the attic tomorrow." Meredith murmured. "Obviously we made the right choice coming home for the weekend."

Lil grinned. "Yeah, I would say there's definitely information here for us to find."

The screen door opened and the Sons filtered through. "Ladies." Pogue greeted quietly. They all found seating and joined the women in watching the sun fall behind the hills to the west. "Your house is great."

"Thank you." Meredith nodded to him.

"So, it looks like the road trip isn't a bust." Reid smiled wryly.

"What's out there?" Tyler asked looking out past the fencing to the tree line. "It feels…"

"Powerful." Caleb finished.

"That's where we hold our rituals. There's a natural clearing about fifty feet in. It's a very special place." Lilith shared. "That out there is the first spot we ever used our magic consciously."

"Dinner's ready kids!" Millicent's voice called out to them from the doorway.

Once everyone was seated and eating the pot roast the elderly woman had prepared for them Millicent finally began to speak. "When Ms. Selena was pregnant with Ms. Lily she had a visitor. An old woman from Salem came out to the plantation to speak with her and to give her something. Ms. Selena listened, and I remember watching as she nodded occasionally, and finally the old woman left. Ms. Selena took that package up to the attic. She didn't talk to me about it then, and I never saw that old woman again. Ms. Selena went on to give birth to Ms. Luna, Ms. Astrid, and Ms. Dahlia. It was when Ms. Luna got sick the first time with the leukemia Ms. Selena had such a look on her face. I knew that it was more than just her daughter's illness affecting her. That's when she told me. The woman, Martha Pope had been the woman who'd come so many years before. She'd brought a prophecy to Ms. Selena that spoke of four DuVeaux girls and the Sons of Ipswich." Millicent looked at the faces at the table and saw she had their undivided attention. "I'd never even heard of Ipswich Massachusetts before that day." She chuckled. "I knew about Ms. Selena's power and her beliefs, we'd become good friends with the years we were together. I assumed she meant her four daughters and she told me no, it wasn't her girls in the prophecy. Told me it couldn't be with Luna getting so sick. She told me that it would be the four girls beget by her daughters. She was so worried. Even at their young age she knew there was something besides magic missing in them. She and your grandfather tried to raise them the best they could, but it was almost like a loss right from the start." Millicent shuddered. "I never could figure out how two such loving people like your grandparents could have such children. The only one who seemed any kind of normal was Ms. Luna, and she was always so sick that the attention she got because of that seemed to be what made her so selfish."

"Did she say anything else about the prophecy?" Sheridan asked softly.

"She said that it was the most powerful thing she'd ever been around. She said that the destiny held for you four girls was larger than she thought possible, but that if you didn't fight it everything would work out the way it should. She also said that if you fought it then terrible things would happen. It scared me. She said Millie, don't be scared, those girls are going to be the strongest women, and the Sons of Ipswich are just as strong. Selena said you would have many tests to pass, but that she had complete faith in her girls."

The table was silent for a few moments before Meredith stood. "Thank you Ms. Millie. Excuse me." She quickly left the table before her tears could start to fall.

"I'll go find her." Caleb murmured, and went to find the girl who'd captured his heart.

It wasn't hard to find her. She'd gone upstairs and straight to her room. She hadn't fully closed her door and now stood looking out of the window as tears fell down her cheeks. Caleb moved in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He rested his chin on the top of her head and sighed. "You okay?"

"I miss her so much." she admitted through a lump in her throat. "Besides my cousins, she was the most important person in my world. She taught me everything, gave me everything. She wasn't just my grandmother, she was my mother, Caleb."

"Sounds like she loved being that."

"I used to wonder if she resented having to take us in because our mothers were such failures…"

"Ms. Millie seems to think she wouldn't have had it any other way. I tend to agree with Ms. Millie."

"Yeah, me too. She was the most amazing woman. I wish you could have met her."

"Me too Baby, me too. I'm grateful to her that she raised you into this magnificent person in front of me." his arms tightened slightly.

Meredith turned in his arms, her tears beginning to dry. "I don't think I'm the magnificent one in this relationship."

He smiled and dropped a kiss on her lips. "You'd be wrong. I don't know what I was doing before you came into my life Mer, but I'm coming to the conclusion all I was doing was waiting for you."

Meredith lifted up and captured Caleb's lips with her own. She ran her tongue over his full bottom lip and his mouth opened, his tongue moving in to taste her. His arms were still around her and his hands clutched at the material of her top along her back, as he pulled her closer. Meredith buried her hands in his hair and he deepened the kiss. When she pushed her body against his and felt the hardness which told her he was really enjoying their kiss, she pulled away. "We should stop."

Caleb grinned. "Yeah, probably a good idea."

"For now…" She smiled up at him from under her lashes. His heart raced at her words.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates... to all my stories. I'm going through chemo therapy right now, and to be honest it's kicking my ass. I'll update when I can. **

The day had dawned bright and sunny so Lil and Quin had taken Tyler and Pogue out for a ride to see the homestead, leaving the other four to their own devices. Caleb was stretched out on the bed in his room when he felt a knee sink into the mattress next to him and opened his eyes to see Meredith leaning over him with a smile on her face. "Hey there," he murmured.

"Hey there yourself."

He reached his arms up and pulled her closer, until her body was flush with his. "I was just thinking about you."

"You were? And what exactly were you thinking?" Meredith ran her lips over his lightly.

"That it had been too long since I'd kissed you." So saying he deepened the light kissing, running his tongue over her bottom lip, seeking entrance into her sweet mouth. Meredith immediately opened to him, and her hands, which had been holding her up, relaxed and moved to curl into his dark, silky hair. Caleb pulled her over until they were lying side by side on the bed, and his hands moved up and down her back, kneading into her flesh, and slowly working their way under her top to span her bare back. Meredith wrapped a leg around his two and lost herself in this man who'd come into her life as such a surprise. He made her feel things she'd never felt; want things she'd never really wanted before. Sure she'd had regular teenage hormones, and she'd had boyfriends, but she'd never desired them the way she desired Caleb.

"Mer..." he whispered.

"Caleb, I want you," her voice was hoarse and needy. Her navy eyes met his own dark gaze and didn't look away as her hand moved down to work on his belt buckle. As he moved in for another kiss a flash of fierce anger hit both of them causing them to wince. "What was that?" she was truly confused.

Caleb frowned, "Reid." They were up and moving quickly.

**

Reid had heard the car pull up outside and that's what had drawn him out to the front porch. He'd gotten there just in time to see Sheridan being pulled into a hug by a dark haired guy, slightly shorter than himself, who'd just gotten out of the passenger side of a pick up truck.

"Billy, what're you doing here?" Sheridan asked with a smile on her face.

"Came to see you darlin'!" the dark haired man grinned. "Tommy's uncle was making a delivery out this way when you guys got into town, and when he told Tommy, Tommy told me."

"It's good to see you!" She turned her attention to the driver of the vehicle. "Hey Matt! How're you doing?"

"Real good Sheri, you look good. Is Lil around?"

Meredith and Caleb had just gotten out onto the porch, and Caleb approached his friend. "Lil and Quin went out for a ride with Lil's boyfriend and our other friend," Meredith told the blonde man.

The man's smile faltered, "Oh. Well. It's goot to see you Merry. Yall both look like that yankee school is treatin' you good."

Merry smiled. "It is. We like it quite a bit. Matt, Billy, this is my boyfriend Caleb, and our very good friend Reid. Guys, this is Matt and Billy, we all kind of grew up together here in Donner's Falls."

"Pleasure," Caleb nodded to the two men. Reid just nodded as he tried to control his emotions. Sheridan looked confused.

"Well, we can't stay," Billy gave the petite girl another hug, and the way he held her spoke of more than friendship. "However, there is a party out at Frankie's tomorrow night. If you all are still in town yall should all come, bring your friends of course. It should be a good time!"

Meredith gave the men a friendly smile, "We'll see if we can, haven't talked to Frankie in a while. I'll let Lil and Quin know yall stopped by." Sheridan stepped away from the vehicle as both men got back in. Matt gave Merry a nod, and then they were driving off.

Reid didn't say a word, just headed directly inside the house and up to the room he was using as his own. "Leave me alone Caleb," he managed to grind out from clenched teeth when he heard his friend enter the room.

"I can feel your anger a mile a way Bro, what gives?" Caleb kept his tone calm.

"I can't do this."

"Do what Reid? I'm not following you."

"This... this couples thing... I can't do it..." This time it sounded as if Reid was in pain. "I like Sheridan man. I feel things for her."

Caleb was shocked. What he was hearing went against everything the other man had been saying.

"I keep fighting it, but how can I? Ever since Abbott dragged her out to dance I've wanted to take care of her."

"That's not a bad thing Reid," Caleb tried cautiously.

"Isn't it?" Reid still stared out the window. "What if she's not the one? What if it's Quin? What if I have these feelings for her and I have to see her end up with Pogue? What if we're not supposed to be..."

"Together?" Sheridan's voice came from the doorway, shocking both men. They both turned to look at her, but she only looked at Reid. "You think you're the only one that's scared of this? That you're the only one who might have feelings that might not have any say in what happens?" He shrugged, and she moved more fully into the room. "You're the one I want to end up with Reid, no matter how many barbs we throw at each other. I'm scared too, but I think it's time we stopped running and fighting what's supposed to happen."

**

Lil and Tyler lay on the blanket cuddled close, laughing with their friends. The day had been wonderful so far, but storm clouds were moving in, and Lil wondered if they'd get the storm they'd missed the night before. They'd gotten a bit of rain, but nothing of what they were supposed to get. They'd have to head back soon. Quin was up walking around and had begun to gather apples off the trees about twenty feet away.

"We should help her," Tyler laughed as he watched the blonde trying to hold onto about ten apples in her arm and still grab another.

Pogue was already standing, "I'm on my way." He figured it should be safe seeing as they were still within good line of sight of Lil and Tyler. It wasn't as if he had a problem with Quin, or Sheridan for that matter, but he'd loved Kate and he honestly didn't think that whatever these feelings were the others were feeling could be the same thing. Plus, although it didn't hurt the way it had, he wondered if he was really supposed to have a relationship. He'd been with Kate for three years and she'd walked away as if that time was nothing. If he was really worthy, would it have been so easy for her? He shook off the melancholy feelings and joined Quin under the apple tree, "Need some help?" he grinned at the blonde.

She looked at him with an embarrassed smile, "Okay, so maybe I'm trying to take a few too many home."

"You think so?" he chuckled, but then gasped as a pain hit him in the solar plexus. It seemed to hit Quin at the same time because all of the apples dropped from her arms and she almost doubled over. "Are you okay?" he wheezed.

"It hurts," she managed. For a moment Quin thought she was going to collapse to her knees, but then Pogue's hands came out to steady her. As soon as they grasped her upper arms, a tingling spread throughout her body. Her shocked eyes met his and she felt as though something was attaching them. "I thought we had to be alone?" her voice was tremulous with a small amount of fear.

"Me too," he agreed but couldn't stop the step towards her. He could distantly hear Lil and Tyler scrambling in the background, but didn't know what they were doing. "I have to..." he murmured staring intently at her mouth which seemed to glisten up at him in invitation.

"I know." Then his mouth was meeting hers and Quin moved until her hands clutched him closer to her.

**

Sheridan moved until she stood less than a foot away from Reid, then she looked to Caleb. "You need to leave and shut the door after you," she told him softly.

He looked at both of them silently before nodding. Neither looked at him again.

Reid and Sheridan stared at each other and their hearts and hope was in their eyes. Before the door shut, Sheridan reached out with shaking hands and clasped Reid's. As soon as the door shut it was as if there was a soft stirring of wind. Reid pulled her closer to him and leaned down. "If we aren't meant to be it's probably really stupid to do this, but I don't want to go forever without kissing you at least once," he whispered.

She nodded and then he kissed her. His lips were gentle on hers, thorough and confident. Her arms wrapped around his waist, drawing him closer, and his hands now cupped her face. Suddenly, the kiss became more, and a sharp pain shot through the both of them. Something flashed and the connection strengthened. Reid couldn't get enough of her mouth, and she met him fully. Finally, he pulled away only to place kisses along her cheek, jawline, and neck, until he held her tightly.

"You're mine," he told her in a voice raw with emotion.

She smiled into his neck, "I'm yours."


End file.
